THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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PSYCHOLOGY  AND   LIFE.     Boston,  1899. 

GRUNDZUGE  DER  PSYCHOLOGIE.     Leipzig,  1900. 

AMERICAN   TRAITS.      Boston,  1902. 

DIE  AMERIKANER.      Berlin,  1904. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  ART  EDUCATION.     New  York,  1905. 

THE  ETERNAL  LIFE.     Boston,  1905. 

SCIENCE  AND   IDEALISM.      Boston,  1906. 

PHILOSOPHIE   DER   WERTE.     Leipzig,  1907. 

ON  THE  WITNESS   STAND.     New  York,  1908. 

AUS   DEUTSCH-AMERIKA.     Berlin,  1908. 

THE   ETERNAL  VALUES.     Boston,  1909. 

PSYCHOTHERAPY.     New  York,  1909. 

PSYCHOLOGY   AND  THE  TEACHER.      New  York,  1910. 

AMERICAN   PROBLEMS.     New  York,  1911. 

PSYCHOLOGIE  UND  WIRTSCHAFTSLEBEN.  Berlin, 
1912. 

VOCATION   AND   LEARNING.     St.  Louis,  1912. 

PSYCHOLOGY  AND  INDUSTRIAL  EFFICIENCY.  Bos- 
ton, 1913. 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  EFFICIENCY 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  EFFICIENCY 


BY 


HUGO   MUNSTERBERG 


BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

dbe  RitetjSiDc  pte0  <fl:ambrilJoe 
1913 


COPYRIGHT,    1913,    BY    HUGO   MUNSTERBERG 
ALL    RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  February  iqij 


Bus.  Admin. 
Library 

MS8 


TO 

HAROLD   F.  McCORMICK 


1312637 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

THIS  book  corresponds  to  a  German  book, 
which  I  published  a  few  months  ago,  under 
the  title  Psychologie  und  Wirtschajtslehen:  Ein 
Beitrag  zur  angewandten  Experimental-Psychologie 
(Leipzig:  J.  A.  Barth).  It  is  not  a  translation, 
as  some  parts  of  the  German  volume  have  been 
abbreviated  or  entirely  omitted  and  other  parts 
have  been  enlarged  and  supplemented.  Yet  the 
essential  substance  of  the  two  books  is  identical. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

I.  Applied  Psychology S 

11.  The  Demands  of  Practical  Life  .      .  11 

III.  Means  and  Ends 17 

I.     THE    BEST    POSSIBLE   MAN 

IV.  Vocation  and  Fitness 27 

V.  Scientific  Vocational  Guidance    .      .    37 

VI.  Scientific  Management      ....    49 

VII.  The  Methods   of   Experimental   Psy- 
chology     57 

VIII.   Experiments  in  the  Interest  of  Elec- 
tric Railway  Service      ....     63 

IX.  Experiments  in  the  Interest  of  Ship 

Service 83 

X.  Experiments  in  the  Interest  of  Tele- 
phone Service 97 

XI.  Contributions  from  Men  of  Affairs  .  116 

XII.  Individuals  and  Groups     ....  129 

II.    THE   BEST    POSSIBLE   WORK 

XIII.  Learning  and  Training      ....  141 

XIV.  The  Adjustment  of  Technical  to  Psy- 

chical Conditions 158 

vn 


CONTENTS 

XV.  The  Economy  of  Movement       .      .180 

XVI.   Experiments    on    the    Problem    of 

Monotony 190 

XVII.  Attention  and  Fatigue         .      .      .  206 

XVIII.  Physical  and  Social  Influences  on 

THE  Working  Power    .      .      .      .221 

III.  THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

XIX.  The  Satisfaction  of  Economic  De- 
mands     243 

XX.  Experiments  on  the  Effects  of  Ad- 
vertisements      255 

XXI.  The  Effect  of  Display  ....  272 

XXII.  Experiments  with  Reference  to  Il- 
legal Imitation 282 

XXIII.    Buying  and  Selling         ....  294 

XXIV.  The  Future  Development  of  Econo- 
mic Psychology 303 

Notes 311 

Index  ' .      .  317 


INTRODUCTION 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  EFFICIENCY 

INTEODUCTION 
I 

APPLIED    PSYCHOLOGY 

OUR  aim  is  to  sketch  the  outlines  of  a  new 
science  which  is  to  intermediate  between 
the  modern  laboratory  psychology  and  the  pro- 
blems of  economics :  the  psychological  experiment 
is  systematically  to  be  placed  at  the  service  of 
commerce  and  industry.  So  far  we  have  only 
scattered  beginnings  of  the  new  doctrine,  only 
tentative  efforts  and  disconnected  attempts  which 
have  started,  sometimes  in  economic,  and  some- 
times in  psychological,  quarters.  The  time  when 
an  exact  psychology  of  business  life  will  be  pre- 
sented as  a  closed  and  perfected  system  lies  very 
far  distant.  But  the  earlier  the  attention  of 
wider  circles  is  directed  to  its  beginnings  and  to 
the  importance  and  bearings  of  its  tasks,  the 
quicker  and  the  more  sound  will  be  the  develop- 
ment of  this  young  science.  What  is  most  needed 
to-day  at  the  beginning  of  the  new  movement  are 

3 


INTRODUCTION 

clear,  concrete  illustrations  which  demonstrate 
the  possibilities  of  the  new  method.  In  the  follow- 
ing pages,  accordingly,  it  will  be  my  aim  to  ana- 
lyze the  results  of  experiments  which  have  actu- 
ally been  carried  out,  experiments  belonging  to 
many  different  spheres  of  economic  life.  But  these 
detached  experiments  ought  always  at  least  to 
point  to  a  connected  whole;  the  single  experiments 
will,  therefore,  always  need  a  general  discussion 
of  the  principles  as  a  background.  In  the  interest 
of  such  a  wider  perspective  we  may  at  first  enter 
into  some  preparatory  questions  of  theory.  They 
may  serve  as  an  introduction  which  is  to  lead 
us  to  the  actual  economic  life  and  the  present 
achievements  of  experimental  psychology. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  modern  psychologists 
only  slowly  and  very  reluctantly  approached  the 
apparently  natural  task  of  rendering  useful  serv- 
ice to  practical  life.  As  long  as  the  study  of  the 
mind  was  entirely  dependent  upon  philosophical 
or  theological  speculation,  no  help  could  be  ex- 
pected from  such  endeavors  to  assist  in  the  daily 
walks  of  life.  But  half  a  century  has  passed  since 
the  study  of  consciousness  was  switched  into  the 
tracks  of  exact  scientific  investigation.  Five 
decades  ago  the  psychologists  began  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  most  minute  description  of  the 
mental  experiences  and  to  explain  the  mental  life 

4 


APPLIED  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  a  way  which  was  modeled  after  the  pattern  of 
exact  natural  sciences.  Their  aim  was  no  longer 
to  speculate  about  the  soul,  but  to  find  the  psych- 
ical elements  and  the  constant  laws  which  con- 
trol their  connections.  Psychology  became  exper- 
imental and  physiological.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  the  psychologists  have  also  had  their  work- 
shops. Laboratories  for  experimental  psychology 
have  grown  up  in  all  civilized  countries,  and  the 
new  method  has  been  applied  to  one  group  of 
mental  traits  after  another.  And  yet  we  stand  be- 
fore the  surprising  fact  that  all  the  manifold  results 
of  the  new  science  have  remained  book  know- 
ledge, detached  from  any  practical  interests.  Only 
in  the  last  ten  years  do  we  find  systematic  efforts 
to  apply  the  experimental  results  of  psychology  to 
the  needs  of  society. 

It  is  clear  that  the  reason  for  this  late  begin- 
ning is  not  an  unwillingness  of  the  last  century  to 
make  theoretical  knowledge  serviceable  to  the  de- 
mands of  life.  Every  one  knows,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  glorious  advance  of  the  natural  sciences 
became  at  the  same  time  a  triumphal  march  of 
technique.  Whatever  was  brought  to  light  in  the 
laboratories  of  the  physicists  and  chemists,  of  the 
physiologists  and  pathologists,  was  quickly  trans- 
formed into  achievements  of  physical  and  chem- 
ical industry,  of  medicine  and  hygiene,  of  agricul- 

5 


INTRODUCTION 

ture  and  mining  and  transportation.  No  realm 
of  the  external  social  life  remained  untouched. 
The  scientists,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  that  the 
far-reaching  practical  effect  which  came  from  their 
discoveries  exerted  a  stimulating  influence  on  the 
theoretical  researches  themselves.  The  pure  search 
for  truth  and  knowledge  was  not  lowered  when 
the  electrical  waves  were  harnessed  for  wireless 
telegraphy,  or  the  Roentgen  rays  were  forced  into 
the  service  of  surgery.  The  knowledge  of  nature 
and  the  mastery  of  nature  have  always  belonged 
together. 

The  persistent  hesitation  of  the  psychologists 
to  make  similar  practical  use  of  their  experimental 
results  has  therefore  come  from  different  causes. 
The  students  of  mental  life  evidently  had  the  feel- 
ing that  quiet,  undisturbed  research  was  needed 
for  the  new  science  of  psychology  in  order  that  a 
certain  maturity  might  be  reached  before  a  contact 
with  the  turmoil  of  practical  life  would  be  advis- 
able. The  sciences  themselves  cannot  escape  in- 
jury if  their  results  are  forced  into  the  rush  of  the 
day  before  the  fundamental  ideas  have  been 
cleared  up,  the  methods  of  investigation  really 
tried,  and  an  ample  supply  of  facts  collected.  But 
this  very  justified  reluctance  becomes  a  real  dan- 
ger if  it  grows  into  an  instinctive  fear  of  coming 
into  contact  at  all  with  practical  life.  To  be  sure, 

6 


APPLIED  PSYCHOLOGY 

in  any  single  case  there  may  be  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  when  the  right  time  has  come  and 
when  the  inner  consoHdation  of  a  new  science  is 
sufficiently  advanced  for  the  technical  service, 
but  it  ought  to  be  clear  that  it  is  not  wise  to  wait 
until  the  scientists  have  settled  all  the  theoretical 
problems  involved.  True  progress  in  every  scien- 
tific field  means  that  the  problems  become  mul- 
tiplied and  that  ever  new  questions  keep  coming 
to  the  surface.  If  the  psychologists  were  to  refrain 
from  practical  application  until  the  theoretical 
results  of  their  laboratories  need  no  supplement, 
the  time  for  applied  psychology  would  never  come. 
Whoever  looks  without  prejudice  on  the  develop- 
ment of  modern  psychology  ought  to  acknowledge 
that  the  hesitancy  which  was  justified  in  the  be- 
ginning would  to-day  be  inexcusable  lack  of  initi- 
ative. For  the  sciences  of  the  mind,  too,  the  time 
has  come  when  theory  and  practice  must  support 
each  other.  An  exceedingly  large  mass  of  facts 
has  been  gathered,  the  methods  have  become  re- 
fined and  differentiated,  and  however  much  may 
still  be  under  discussion,  the  ground  common  to  all 
is  ample  enough  to  build  upon. 

Another  important  reason  for  the  slowness  of 
practical  progress  was  probably  this.  When  the 
psychologists  began  to  work  with  the  new  experi- 
mental methods,  their  most  immediate  concern 

7 


INTRODUCTION 

was  to  get  rid  of  mere  speculation  and  to  take 
hold  of  actual  facts.  Hence  they  regarded  the 
natural  sciences  as  their  model,  and,  together 
with  the  experimental  method  which  distinguishes 
scientific  work,  the  characteristic  goal  of  the 
sciences  was  accepted  too.  This  scientific  goal 
is  always  the  attainment  of  general  laws;  and  so 
it  happened  that  in  the  first  decades  after  the 
foundation  of  psychological  laboratories  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  the  mind  absorbed  the  entire  atten- 
tion and  interest  of  the  investigators.  The  result 
of  such  an  attitude  was,  that  we  learned  to  under- 
stand the  working  of  the  typical  mind,  but  that 
all  the  individual  variations  were  almost  neg- 
lected. When  the  various  individuals  differed  in 
their  mental  behavior,  these  differences  appeared 
almost  as  disturbances  which  the  psychologists 
had  to  eliminate  in  order  to  find  the  general  laws 
which  hold  for  every  mind.  The  studies  were  ac- 
cordingly confined  to  the  general  averages  of 
mental  experience,  while  the  variations  from  such 
averages  were  hardly  included  in  the  scientific  ac- 
count. In  earlier  centuries,  to  be  sure,  the  interest 
of  the  psychological  observers  had  been  given  al- 
most entirely  to  the  rich  manifoldness  of  human 
characters  and  intelligences  and  talents.  In  the 
new  period  of  experimental  work,  this  interest  was 
taken  as  an  indication  of  the  unscientific  fancies 

8 


APPLIED  PSYCHOLOGY 

of  the  earlier  age,  in  which  the  curious  and  the 
anecdotal  attracted  the  view.  The  new  science 
which  was  to  seek  the  laws  was  to  overcome  such 
popular  curiosity.  In  this  sign  experimental  psy- 
chology has  conquered.  The  fundamental  laws 
of  the  ideas  and  of  the  attention,  of  the  memory 
and  of  the  will,  of  the  feeling  and  of  the  emotions, 
have  been  elaborated.  Yet  it  slowly  became  evi- 
dent that  such  one-sidedness,  however  necessary  it 
may  have  been  at  the  beginning,  would  make  any 
practical  application  impossible.  In  practical  life 
we  never  have  to  do  with  what  is  common  to  all 
human  beings,  even  when  we  are  to  influence 
large  masses;  we  have  to  deal  with  personalities 
whose  mental  life  is  characterized  by  particular 
traits  of  nationality,  or  race,  or  vocation,  or  sex, 
or  age,  or  special  interests,  or  other  features  by 
which  they  differ  from  the  average  mind  which 
the  theoretical  psychologist  may  construct  as  a 
type.  Still  more  frequently  we  have  to  act  with 
reference  to  smaller  groups  or  to  single  individ- 
uals whose  mental  physiognomy  demands  care- 
ful consideration.  As  long  as  experimental  psy- 
chology remained  essentially  a  science  of  the 
mental  laws,  common  to  all  human  beings,  an  ad- 
justment to  the  practical  demands  of  daily  life 
could  hardly  come  in  question.  With  such  gen- 
eral laws  we  could  never  have  mastered  the  con- 

9 


INTRODUCTION 

Crete  situations  of  society,  because  we  should  have 
had  to  leave  out  of  view  the  fact  that  there  are 
gifted  and  ungifted,  intelligent  and  stupid,  sensi- 
tive and  obtuse,  quick  and  slow,  energetic  and 
weak  individuals. 

But  in  recent  years  a  complete  change  can  be 
traced  in  our  science.  Experiments  which  refer 
to  these  individual  differences  themselves  have 
been  carried  on  by  means  of  the  psychological 
laboratory,  at  first  reluctantly  and  in  tentative 
forms,  but  within  the  last  ten  years  the  move- 
ment has  made  rapid  progress.  To-day  we  have  a 
psychology  of  individual  variations  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  psychological  laboratory.^  This 
development  of  schemes  to  compare  the  differ- 
ences between  the  individuals  by  the  methods  of 
experimental  science  was  after  all  the  most  im- 
portant advance  toward  the  practical  application 
of  psychology.  The  study  of  the  individual  dif- 
ferences itself  is  not  applied  psychology,  but  it 
is  the  presupposition  without  which  applied  psy- 
chology would  have  remained  a  phantom. 


n 

THE   DEMANDS   OF   PRACTICAL    LIFE 

WHILE  in  this  way  the  progress  of  psy- 
chology itself  and  the  development  of 
the  psychology  of  individual  differences  favored 
the  growth  of  applied  psychology,  there  arose 
at  the  same  time  an  increasing  demand  in  the 
midst  of  practical  life.  Especially  the  teachers  and 
the  physicians,  later  the  lawyers  as  well,  looked 
for  help  from  exact  psychology.  The  science  of 
education  and  instruction  had  always  had  some 
contact  with  the  science  of  the  mind,  as  the  peda- 
gogues could  never  forget  that  the  mental  devel- 
opment of  the  child  has  to  stand  in  the  centre 
of  educational  thought.  For  a  long  while  peda- 
gogy was  still  leaning  on  a  philosophical  psycho- 
logy, after  that  old-fashioned  study  of  the  soul  had 
been  given  up  in  psychological  quarters.  At  last, 
in  the  days  of  progressive  experimental  psycho- 
logy, the  time  came  when  the  teachers  under  the 
pressure  of  their  new  needs  began  to  inquire  how 
far  the  modern  laboratory  could  aid  them  in  the 
classroom.  The  pedagogical  psychology  of  mem- 
ory, of  attention,  of  will,  and  of  intellect  was 
systematically  worked  up  by  men  with  practical 

11 


INTRODUCTION 

school  interests.  We  may  notice  in  the  move- 
ment a  slow  but  most  important  shifting.  At  first 
the  results  of  theoretical  psychology  were  simply 
transplanted  into  the  pedagogical  field.  Experi- 
ments which  were  carried  on  in  the  interest  of 
pure  theoretical  science  were  made  practical  use 
of,  but  their  application  remained  a  mere  chance 
by-product.  Only  slowly  did  the  pedagogical 
problems  themselves  begin  to  determine  the  ex- 
perimental investigation.  The  methods  of  labora- 
tory psychology  were  applied  for  the  solving  of 
those  problems  which  originated  in  the  school  ex- 
perience, and  only  when  this  point  was  reached 
could  a  truly  experimental  pedagogy  be  built  on  a 
psychological  foundation.  We  stand  in  the  midst 
of  this  vigorous  and  healthy  movement,  which 
has  had  a  stimulating  effect  on  theoretical  psy- 
chology itself. 

We  find  a  similar  situation  in  the  sphere  of  the 
physician.  He  could  not  pass  by  the  new  science 
of  the  mind  without  instinctively  feeling  that  his 
medical  diagnosis  and  therapy  could  be  furthered 
in  many  directions  by  the  experimental  method. 
Not  only  the  psychiatrist  and  nerve  specialist, 
but  in  a  certain  sense  every  physician  had  made 
use  of  a  certain  amount  of  psychology  in  his  pro- 
fessional work.  He  had  always  had  to  make  clear 
to  himself  the  mental  experiences  of  the  patient, 

12 


THE  DEMANDS  OF  PRACTICAL  LIFE 

to  study  his  pain  sensations  and  his  feehngs  of 
comfort,  his  fears  and  his  hopes,  his  perceptions 
and  his  voHtions,  and  to  a  certain  degree  he  had 
always  tried  to  influence  the  mental  life  of  the 
patient,  to  work  on  him  by  suggestion  and  to  help 
him  by  stimulating  his  mind.  But  as  far  as  a  real 
description  and  explanation  of  such  mental  ex- 
periences came  in  question,  all  remained  a  dilet- 
tantic  semi-psychology  which  worked  with  the 
most  trivial  conceptions  of  popular  thinking.  The 
medical  men  recognized  the  disproportion  be- 
tween the  exactitude  of  their  anatomical,  physi- 
ological, and  pathological  observation  and  the 
superficiality  of  their  self-made  psychology.  Thus 
the  desire  arose  in  their  own  medical  circle  to 
harmonize  their  psychological  means  of  diagnosis 
and  therapy  with  the  schemes  of  modern  scien- 
tific psychology.  The  physician  who  examines  the 
sensations  in  a  nervous  disease,  or  the  intelligence 
in  a  mental  disease,  or  heals  by  suggestion  or 
hypnotism,  tries  to  apply  the  latest  discoveries 
of  the  psychological  laboratory.  But  here,  too, 
the  same  development  as  in  pedagogy  can  be 
traced.  The  physicians  at  first  made  use  only  of 
results  which  had  been  secured  under  entirely  dif- 
ferent points  of  view,  but  later  the  experiments 
were  subordinated  to  the  special  medical  problems. 
Then  the  physician  was  no  longer  obliged  simply 

13 


INTRODUCTION 

to  use  what  he  happened  to  find  among  the  re- 
sults of  the  theoretical  psychologist,  but  carried 
on  the  experiments  in  the  service  of  medical  pro- 
blems. The  independent  status  of  experimental 
medical  psychology  could  be  secured  only  by  this 
development. 

In  somewhat  narrower  limits  the  same  may 
be  said  as  to  the  problems  of  law.  A  kind  of  popu- 
lar psychology  was  naturally  involved  whenever 
judges  or  lawyers  analyzed  the  experience  on  the 
witness  stand  or  discussed  the  motives  of  crime 
or  the  confessions  of  the  criminal  or  the  social 
conditions  of  criminality.  But  when  every  day 
brought  new  discoveries  in  the  psychological  lab- 
oratory, it  seemed  natural  to  make  use  of  the  new 
methods  and  of  the  new  results  in  the  interest  of 
the  courtroom.  The  power  of  observation  in  the 
witness,  the  exactitude  of  his  memory,  the  char- 
acter of  his  illusions  and  imagination,  his  suggest- 
ibility and  his  feeling,  appeared  in  a  new  light  in 
view  of  the  experimental  investigations,  and  the 
emotions  and  volitions  of  the  criminal  were  under- 
stood with  a  new  insight.  Here,  too,  the  last  step 
was  taken.  Instead  of  being  satisfied  with  experi- 
ments which  the  psychologist  had  made  for  his 
own  purposes,  the  students  of  legal  psychology 
adjusted  experiments  to  the  particular  needs  of 
the  courtroom.  Investigations  were  carried  on  to 

14 


THE  DEMANDS  OF  PRACTICAL  LIFE 

determine  the  fidelity  of  testimony  or  to  find  meth- 
ods for  the  detection  of  hidden  thoughts  and  so  on. 
Efforts  toward  the  application  of  psychology  have 
accordingly  grown  up  in  the  fields  of  pedagogy, 
medicine,  and  jurisprudence,  but  as  these  studies 
naturally  do  not  remain  independent  of  one  an- 
other, they  all  together  form  the  one  unified  sci- 
ence of  applied  psychology. ^ 

As  soon  as  the  independence  of  this  new  science 
was  felt,  it  was  natural  that  new  demands  and  new 
problems  should  continue  to  originate  within  its 
own  limits.  There  must  be  applied  psychology 
wherever  the  investigation  of  mental  life  can  be 
made  serviceable  to  the  tasks  of  civilization .  Crim- 
inal law,  education,  medicine,  certainly  do  not  con- 
stitute the  totality  of  civilized  life.  It  is  therefore 
the  duty  of  the  practical  psychologist  systemat- 
ically to  examine  how  far  other  purposes  of  mod- 
ern society  can  be  advanced  by  the  new  methods 
of  experimental  psychology.  There  is,  for  in- 
stance, already  far-reaching  agreement  that  the 
problems  of  artistic  creation,  of  scientific  obser- 
vation, of  social  reform,  and  many  similar  en- 
deavors must  be  acknowledged  as  organic  parts 
of  applied  psychology.  Only  one  group  of  pur- 
poses is  so  far  surprisingly  neglected  in  the  realm 
of  the  psychological  laboratory:  the  purposes  of 
the  economic  life,  the  purposes  of  commerce  and 

15 


INTRODUCTION 

industry,  of  business  and  the  market  in  the  widest 
sense  of  the  word.  The  question  how  far  apphed 
psychology  can  be  extended  in  this  direction  is  the 
topic  of  the  following  discussions. 


Ill 

MEANS   AND   ENDS 

APPLIED  psychology  is  evidently  to  be 
classed  with  the  technical  sciences.  It  may 
be  considered  as  psychotechnics,  since  we  must 
recognize  any  science  as  technical  if  it  teaches  us 
to  apply  theoretical  knowledge  for  the  further- 
ance of  human  purposes.  Like  all  technical 
sciences,  applied  psychology  tells  us  what  we 
ought  to  do  if  we  want  to  reach  certain  ends;  but 
we  ought  to  realize  at  the  threshold  where  the 
limits  of  such  a  technical  science  lie,  as  they  are 
easily  overlooked,  with  resulting  confusion.  We 
must  understand  that  every  technical  science 
says  only:  you  must  make  use  of  this  means,  if 
you  wish  to  reach  this  or  that  particular  end.  But 
no  technical  science  can  decide  within  its  limits 
whether  the  end  itself  is  really  a  desirable  one. 
The  technical  specialist  knows  how  he  ought  to 
build  a  bridge  or  how  he  ought  to  pierce  a  tunnel, 
presupposing  that  the  bridge  or  the  tunnel  is  de- 
sired. But  whether  they  are  desirable  or  not  is  a 
question  which  does  not  concern  the  technical 
scientist,  but  which  must  be  considered   from 

17 


INTRODUCTION 

economic  or  political  or  other  points  of  view. 
Everywhere  the  engineer  must  know  how  to  reach 
an  end,  and  must  leave  it  to  others  to  settle 
whether  the  end  is  in  itself  desirable.  Often  the 
end  may  be  a  matter  of  course  for  every  reason- 
able being.  The  extreme  case  is  presented  by  the 
applied  science  of  medicine,  where  the  physician 
subordinates  all  his  technique  to  the  end  of  curing 
the  patient.  Yet  if  we  are  consistent  we  must  ac- 
knowledge that  all  his  medical  knowledge  can 
prescribe  to  him  only  that  he  proceed  in  a  certain 
way  if  the  long  life  of  the  patient  is  acknowledged 
as  a  desirable  end.  The  application  of  anatomy, 
physiology,  and  pathology  may  just  as  well  be  used 
for  the  opposite  end  of  killing  a  man.  Whether 
it  is  wise  to  work  toward  long  life,  or  whether  it 
is  better  to  kill  people,  is  again  a  problem  which 
lies  outside  the  sphere  of  the  applied  sciences. 
Ethics  or  social  philosophy  or  religion  have  to 
solve  these  preliminary  questions.  The  physician 
as  such  has  only  to  deal  with  the  means  which  lead 
toward  that  goal. 

We  must  make  the  same  discrimination  in 
the  psychotechnical  field.  The  psychologist  may 
point  out  the  methods  by  which  an  involuntary 
confession  can  be  secured  from  a  defendant,  but 
whether  it  is  justifiable  to  extort  involuntary 
confessions  is  a  problem  which  does  not  concern 

18 


MEANS  AND   ENDS 

the  psychologist.  The  lawyers  or  the  legislators 
must  decide  as  to  the  right  or  wrong,  the  legality 
or  illegality,  of  forcing  a  man  to  show  his  hidden 
ideas.  If  such  an  end  is  desirable,  the  psycho- 
technical  student  can  determine  the  right  means, 
and  that  is  the  limit  of  his  oflSce.  We  ought  to 
keep  in  mind  that  the  same  holds  true  for  the 
application  of  psychology  in  economic  life.  Eco- 
nomic psychotechnics  may  serve  certain  ends  of 
commerce  and  industry,  but  whether  these  ends 
are  the  best  ones  is  not  a  care  with  which  the 
psychologist  has  to  be  burdened.  For  instance,  the 
end  may  be  the  selection  of  the  most  efficient  la- 
borers for  particular  industries.  The  psychologist 
may  develop  methods  in  his  laboratory  by  which 
this  purpose  can  be  fulfilled.  But  if  some  mills 
prefer  another  goal,  —  for  instance,  to  have  not  the 
most  efficient  but  the  cheapest  possible  laborers, 
—  entirely  different  means  for  the  selection  are 
necessary.  The  psychologist  is,  therefore,  not  en- 
tangled in  the  economic  discussions  of  the  day;  it 
is  not  his  concern  to  decide  whether  the  policy 
of  the  trusts  or  the  policy  of  the  trade-unions  or 
any  other  policy  for  the  selection  of  laborers  is 
the  ideal  one.  He  is  confined  to  the  statement: 
if  you  wish  this  end,  then  you  must  proceed  in 
this  way;  but  it  is  left  to  you  to  express  your  pre- 
ference among  the  ends.  Applied  psychology  can, 

19 


INTRODUCTION 

therefore,  speak  the  language  of  an  exact  science 
in  its  own  field,  independent  of  economic  opinions 
and  debatable  partisan  interests.  This  is  a  neces- 
sary limitation,  but  in  this  limitation  lies  the 
strength  of  the  new  science.  The  psychologist 
may  show  how  a  special  commodity  can  be  adver- 
tised; but  whether  from  a  social  point  of  view  it  is 
desirable  to  reinforce  the  sale  of  these  goods  is  no 
problem  for  psychotechnics.  If  a  sociologist  in- 
sists that  it  would  be  better  if  not  so  many  useless 
goods  were  bought,  and  that  the  aim  ought  rather 
to  be  to  protect  the  buyer  than  to  help  the  seller, 
the  psychologist  would  not  object.  His  interest 
would  only  be  to  find  the  right  psychological 
means  to  lead  to  this  other  social  end.  He  is  par- 
tisan neither  of  the  salesman  nor  of  the  customer, 
neither  of  the  capitalist  nor  of  the  laborer,  he  is 
neither  Socialist  nor  anti-Socialist,  neither  high- 
tariff  man  nor  free-trader.  Here,  too,  of  course, 
there  are  certain  goals  which  are  acknowledged  on 
all  sides,  and  which  therefore  hardly  need  any 
discussion,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  physician, 
where  the  prolongation  of  life  is  practically  ac- 
knowledged as  a  desirable  end  by  every  one.  But 
everywhere  where  the  aim  is  not  perfectly  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  the  psychotechnical  specialist  fulfills 
his  task  only  when  he  is  satisfied  with  demon- 
strating that  certain  psychical  means  serve  a  cer- 

20 


MEANS  AND  ENDS 

tain  end,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  applied  as 
soon  as  that  end  is  accepted. 

The  whole  system  of  psychotechnical  knowledge 
might  be  subdivided  under  either  of  the  two  as- 
pects. Either  we  might  start  from  the  various 
mental  processes  and  ask  for  what  end  each  men- 
tal factor  can  be  practically  useful  and  important, 
or  we  can  begin  with  studying  what  significant 
ends  are  acknowledged  in  our  society  and  then 
we  can  seek  the  various  psychological  facts  which 
are  needed  as  means  for  the  realization  of  these 
ends.  The  first  way  offers  many  conveniences. 
There  we  should  begin  with  the  mental  states  of 
attention,  memory,  feeling,  and  so  on,  and  should 
study  how  the  psychological  knowledge  of  every 
one  of  these  mental  states  can  render  service  in 
many  different  practical  fields.  The  attention, 
for  instance,  is  important  in  the  classroom  when 
the  teacher  tries  to  secure  the  attention  of  the  pu- 
pils, but  the  judge  expects  the  same  attention  from 
the  jurymen  in  the  courtroom,  the  artist  seeks  to 
stir  up  the  attention  of  the  spectator,  the  adver- 
tiser demands  the  attention  of  the  newspaper 
readers.  Whoever  studies  the  characteristics  of 
the  mental  process  of  attention  may  then  be  able 
to  indicate  how  in  every  one  of  these  unlike  cases 
the  attention  can  be  stimulated  and  retained. 
Nevertheless  the  opposite  way  which  starts  from 

21 


INTRODUCTION 

the  tasks  to  be  fulfilled  seems  more  helpful  and 
more  fundamentally  significant.  The  question, 
then,  is  what  mental  processes  become  important 
for  the  tasks  of  education,  what  for  the  purposes 
of  the  courtroom,  what  for  the  hospital,  what  for 
the  church,  what  for  politics,  and  so  on. 

As  this  whole  essay  is  to  be  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  economic  problems,  we  are  obliged  to 
choose  the  second  way;  that  is,  to  arrange  applied 
psychology  with  reference  to  its  chief  ends  and 
not  with  reference  to  the  various  means.  But  the 
same  question  comes  up  in  the  further  subdivision 
of  the  material.  In  the  field  of  economic  psycho- 
logy, too,  we  might  ask  how  far  the  study  of  at- 
tention, or  of  perception,  or  of  feeling,  or  of  will, 
or  of  memory,  and  so  on,  can  be  useful  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  business  man.  Or  here,  too,  we  might 
begin  with  the  consideration  of  the  various  ends 
and  purposes.  The  ends  of  commerce  are  differ- 
ent from  those  of  industry,  those  of  publishing 
different  from  those  of  transportation,  those  of 
agriculture  different  from  those  of  mining;  or,  in 
the  field  of  commerce,  the  purposes  of  the  retailer 
are  different  from  those  of  the  wholesale  merchant. 
There  can  be  no  limit  to  such  subdivisions;  each 
particular  industry  has  its  own  aims,  and  in  the 
same  industry  a  large  variety  of  tasks  are  united. 
We  should  accordingly  be  led  to  an  ample  classi- 

22 


MEANS  AND  ENDS 

fication  of  special  economic  ends  with  pigeonholes 
for  every  possible  kind  of  business  and  of  labor. 
The  psychologist  would  have  to  find  for  every  one 
of  these  ends  the  right  mental  means.  This  would 
be  the  ideal  system  of  economic  psychology. 

But  we  are  still  endlessly  far  from  such  a  per- 
fect system.  Modern  educational  psychology  and 
medical  psychology  have  reached  a  stage  at  which 
an  effort  for  such  a  complete  system  might  be 
realized,  but  economic  psychology  is  still  at  too 
early  a  stage  of  development.  It  would  be  entirely 
artificial  to-day  to  aim  at  such  ideal  completeness. 
If  we  were  to  construct  such  a  complete  system 
of  questions,  we  should  have  no  answers.  In  the 
present  stage  nothing  can  be  seriously  proposed 
but  the  selection  of  a  few  central  purposes  which 
occur  in  every  department  of  business  life,  and  a 
study  of  the  means  to  reach  these  special  ends  by 
the  discussion  of  some  typical  cases  which  may 
clearly  illustrate  the  methods  involved. 

From  this  point  of  view  we  select  three  chief 
purposes  of  business  life,  purposes  which  are  im- 
portant in  commerce  and  industry  and  every  eco- 
nomic endeavor.  We  ask  how  we  can  find  the 
men  whose  mental  qualities  make  them  best  fit- 
ted for  the  work  which  they  have  to  do ;  secondly, 
under  what  psychological  conditions  we  can  se- 
cure the  greatest  and  most  satisfactory^  output 

23 


INTRODUCTION 

of  work  from  every  man;  and  finally,  how  we  can 
produce  most  completely  the  influences  on  human 
minds  which  are  desired  in  the  interest  of  business. 
In  other  words,  we  ask  how  to  find  the  best  possi- 
ble man,  how  to  produce  the  best  possible  work, 
and  how  to  secure  the  best  possible  effects. 


PART  I 

THE  BEST   POSSIBLE  MAN 


PART  I 

THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 
IV 

VOCATION   AND   FITNESS 

INSTEAD  of  lingering  over  theoretical  discus- 
sions, we  will  move  straight  on  toward  our  first 
practical  problem.  The  economic  task,  with  re- 
ference to  which  we  want  to  demonstrate  the  new 
psychotechnic  method,  is  the  selection  of  those 
personalities  which  by  their  mental  qualities  are 
especially  fit  for  a  particular  kind  of  economic 
work.  This  problem  is  especially  useful  to  show 
what  the  new  method  can  do  and  what  it  cannot 
do.  Whether  the  method  is  sufficiently  developed 
to  secure  full  results  to-day,  or  whether  they  will 
come  to-morrow,  is  unimportant.  It  is  clear  that 
the  success  of  to-morrow  is  to  be  hoped  for,  only 
if  understanding  and  interest  in  the  problem  is 
already  alive  to-day. 

When  we  inquire  into  the  qualities  of  men,  we 
use  the  word  here  in  its  widest  meaning.  It  covers, 
on  the  one  side,  the  mental  dispositions  which  may 
still  be  quite  undeveloped  and  which  may  unfold 

27 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

only  under  the  influence  of  special  conditions  in 
the  surroundings;  but,  on  the  other  side,  it  covers 
the  habitual  traits  of  the  personality,  the  features 
of  the  individual  temperament  and  character,  of 
the  intelligence  and  of  the  ability,  of  the  collected 
knowledge  and  of  the  acquired  experience.  All 
variations  of  will  and  feeling,  of  perception  and 
thought,  of  attention  and  emotion,  of  memory 
and  imagination,  are  included  here.  From  a 
purely  psychological  standpoint,  quite  incompar- 
able contents  and  functions  and  dispositions  of 
the  personality  are  thus  thrown  together,  but  in 
practical  life  we  are  accustomed  to  proceed  after 
this  fashion :  If  a  man  applies  for  a  position,  he  is 
considered  with  regard  to  the  totality  of  his  qual- 
ities, and  at  first  nobody  cares  whether  the  par- 
ticular feature  is  inherited  or  acquired,  whether  it 
is  an  individual  chance  variation  or  whether  it  is 
common  to  a  larger  group,  perhaps  to  all  mem- 
bers of  a  certain  nationality  or  race.  We  simply 
start  from  the  clear  fact  that  the  personalities 
which  enter  into  the  world  of  affairs  present  an 
unlimited  manif  oldness  of  talents  and  abilities  and 
functions  of  the  mind.  From  this  manif  oldness, 
it  necessarily  follows  that  some  are  more,  some 
less,  fit  for  the  particular  economic  task.  In  view 
of  the  far-reaching  division  of  labor  in  our  modern 
economic  life,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  the  ques- 

28 


VOCATION  AND  FITNESS 

tion  how  we  can  select  the  fit  personahties  and  re- 
ject the  unfit  ones. 

How  has  modern  society  prepared  itself  to 
settle  this  social  demand?  In  case  that  certain 
knowledge  is  indispensable  for  the  work  or  that 
technical  abilities  must  have  been  acquired,  the 
vocation  is  surrounded  by  examinations.  This  is 
true  of  the  lower  as  well  as  of  the  higher  activ- 
ities. The  direct  examination  is  everywhere  sup- 
plemented by  testimonials  covering  the  previous 
achievements,  by  certificates  referring  to  the 
previous  education,  and  in  frequent  cases  by  the 
endeavor  to  gain  a  personal  impression  from 
the  applicant.  But  if  we  take  all  this  together, 
the  total  result  remains  a  social  machinery  by 
which  perhaps  the  elimination  of  the  entirely  un- 
fit can  be  secured.  But  no  one  could  speak  of  a 
really  satisfactory  adaptation  of  the  manifold  per- 
sonalities to  the  economic  vocational  tasks.  All 
those  examinations  and  tests  and  certificates  re- 
fer essentially  to  what  can  be  learned  from  with- 
out, and  not  to  the  true  qualities  of  the  mind  and 
the  deeper  traits.  The  so-called  impressions,  too, 
are  determined  by  the  most  secondary  and  exter- 
nal factors.  Society  relies  instinctively  on  the  hope 
that  the  natural  wishes  and  interests  will  push 
every  one  to  the  place  for  which  his  dispositions, 
talents,  and  psychophysical  gifts  prepare  him. 

29 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

In  reality  this  confidence  is  entirely  unfounded. 
A  threefold  diflBculty  exists.  In  the  first  place, 
young  people  know  very  little  about  themselves 
and  their  abilities.  When  the  day  comes  on  which 
they  discover  their  real  strong  points  and  their 
weaknesses,  it  is  often  too  late.  They  have  usually 
been  drawn  into  the  current  of  a  particular  voca- 
tion, and  have  given  too  much  energy  to  the 
preparation  for  a  specific  achievement  to  change 
the  whole  life-plan  once  more.  The  entire  scheme 
of  education  gives  to  the  individual  little  chance 
to  find  himself.  A  mere  interest  for  one  or  another 
subject  in  school  is  influenced  by  many  accidental 
circumstances,  by  the  personality  of  the  teacher 
or  the  methods  of  instruction,  by  suggestions  of 
the  surroundings  and  by  home  traditions,  and 
accordingly  even  such  a  preference  gives  rather  a 
slight  final  indication  of  the  individual  mental 
qualities.  Moreover,  such  mere  inclinations  and 
interests  cannot  determine  the  true  psychological 
fitness  for  a  vocation.  To  choose  a  crude  illustra- 
tion, a  boy  may  think  with  passion  of  the  vocation 
of  a  sailor,  and  yet  may  be  entirely  unfit  for  it, 
because  his  mind  lacks  the  ability  to  discriminate 
red  and  green.  He  himself  may  never  have  dis- 
covered that  he  is  color-blind,  but  when  he  is 
ready  to  turn  to  the  sailor's  calling,  the  examina- 
tion of  his  color-sensitiveness  which  is  demanded 

30 


VOCATION  AND   FITNESS 

may  have  shown  the  disturbing  mental  defi- 
ciency. Similar  defects  may  exist  in  a  boy's  atten- 
tion or  memory,  judgment  or  feeling,  thought  or 
imagination,  suggestibility  or  emotion,  and  they 
may  remain  just  as  undiscovered  as  the  defect 
of  color-blindness,  which  is  characteristic  of  four 
per  cent  of  the  male  population.  All  such  defi- 
ciencies may  be  dangerous  in  particular  callings. 
But  while  the  vocation  of  the  ship  officer  is  for- 
tunately protected  nowadays  by  such  a  special 
psychological  examination,  most  other  vocations 
are  unguarded  against  the  entrance  of  the  men- 
tally unfit  individuals. 

As  the  boys  and  girls  grow  up  without  recog- 
nizing their  psychical  weaknesses,  the  exceptional 
strength  of  one  or  another  mental  function  too 
often  remains  unnoticed  by  them  as  well.  They 
may  find  out  when  they  are  favored  with  a  special 
talent  for  art  or  music  or  scholarship,  but  they 
hardly  ever  know  that  their  attention,  or  their 
memory,  or  their  will,  or  their  intellectual  appre- 
hension, or  their  sensory  perceptions,  are  unusu- 
ally developed  in  a  particular  direction;  yet  such 
an  exceptional  mental  disposition  might  be  the 
cause  of  special  success  in  certain  vocations.  But 
we  may  abstract  from  the  extremes  of  abnormal 
deficiency  and  abnormal  overdevelopment  in 
particular  functions.    Between  them  we  find  the 

31 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

broad  region  of  the  average  minds  with  their  num- 
berless variations,  and  these  variations  are  usually 
quite  unknown  to  their  possessors.  It  is  often 
surprising  to  see  how  the  most  manifest  differ- 
ences of  psychical  organization  remain  unnoticed 
by  the  individuals  themselves.  Men  with  a  pro- 
nounced visual  type  of  memory  and  men  with  a 
marked  acoustical  type  may  live  together  without 
the  slightest  idea  that  their  contents  of  conscious- 
ness are  fundamentally  different  from  each  other. 
Neither  the  children  nor  their  parents  nor  their 
teachers  burden  themselves  with  the  careful 
analysis  of  such  actual  mental  qualities  when  the 
choice  of  a  vocation  is  before  them.  They  know 
that  a  boy  who  is  completely  unmusical  must  not 
become  a  musician,  and  that  the  child  who  cannot 
draw  at  all  must  not  become  a  painter,  just  as  on 
physical  grounds  a  boy  with  very  weak  muscles 
is  not  fit  to  become  a  blacksmith.  But  as  soon 
as  the  subtler  differentiation  is  needed,  the  judg- 
ment of  all  concerned  seems  helpless  and  the 
psychical  characteristics  remain  disregarded. 

A  further  reason  for  the  lack  of  adaptation,  and 
surely  a  most  important  one,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
the  individual  usually  knows  only  the  most  ex- 
ternal conditions  of  the  vocations  from  which  he 
chooses.  The  most  essential  requisite  for  a  truly 
perfect  adaptation,  namely,  a  real  analysis  of  the 

32 


VOCATION  AND  FITNESS 

vocational  demands  with  reference  to  the  desir- 
able personal  qualities,  is  so  far  not  in  existence. 
The  young  people  generally  see  some  superficial 
traits  of  the  careers  which  seem  to  stand  open, 
and,  besides,  perhaps  they  notice  the  great  re- 
wards of  the  most  successful.  The  inner  labor,  the 
inner  values,  and  the  inner  difficulties  and  frictions 
are  too  often  unknown  to  those  who  decide  for  a 
vocation,  and  they  are  unable  to  correlate  those 
essential  factors  of  the  life-calling  with  all  that 
nature  by  inheritance,  and  society  by  surround- 
ings and  training,  have  planted  and  developed  in 
their  minds. 

In  addition  to  this  ignorance  as  to  one's  own 
mental  disposition  and  to  the  lack  of  understand- 
ing of  the  true  mental  requirements  of  the  vari- 
ous social  tasks  comes  finally  the  abundance  of 
trivial  chance  influences  which  become  decisive  in 
the  choice  of  a  vocation.  Vocation  and  marriage 
are  the  two  most  consequential  decisions  in  life. 
In  the  selection  of  a  husband  or  wife,  too,  the  de- 
cision is  very  frequently  made  dependent  upon 
the  most  superficial  and  trivial  motives.  Yet  the 
social  philosopher  may  content  himself  with  the 
belief  that  even  in  the  fugitive  love  desire  a  deeper 
instinct  of  nature  is  expressed,  which  may  at  least 
serve  the  biological  tasks  of  married  life.  In  the 
choice  of  a  vocation,  even  such  a  belief  in  a  bio- 

33 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

logical  instinct  is  impossible.  The  choice  of  a  vo- 
cation, determined  by  fugitive  whims  and  chance 
fancies,  by  mere  imitation,  by  a  hope  for  quick 
earnings,  by  irresponsible  recommendation,  or  by 
mere  laziness,  has  no  internal  reason  or  excuse. 
Illusory  ideas  as  to  the  prospects  of  a  career, 
moreover,  often  falsify  the  whole  vista;  and  if  we 
consider  all  this,  we  can  hardly  be  surprised  that 
our  total  result  is  in  many  respects  hardly  better 
than  if  everything  were  left  entirely  to  accident. 
Even  on  the  height  of  a  mental  training  to  the 
end  of  adolescence,  we  see  how  the  college  grad- 
uates are  too  often  led  by  accidental  motives  to 
the  decision  whether  they  shall  become  lawyers  or 
physicians  or  business  men,  but  this  superficiality 
of  choice  of  course  appears  much  more  strongly 
where  the  lifework  is  to  be  built  upon  the  basis 
of  a  mere  elementary  or  high  school  education. 

The  final  result  corresponds  exactly  to  these 
conditions.  Everywhere,  in  all  countries  and  in 
all  vocations,  but  especially  in  the  economic  ca- 
reers, we  hear  the  complaint  that  there  is  lack  of 
really  good  men.  Everywhere  places  are  waiting 
for  the  right  man,  while  at  the  same  time  we  find 
everywhere  an  oversupply  of  mediocre  aspirants. 
This,  however,  does  not  in  the  least  imply  that 
there  really  are  not  enough  personalities  who  might 
be  perfectly  fit  even  for  the  highest  demands  of 

34 


VOCATION  AND  FITNESS 

the  vocations ;  it  means  only  that  as  a  matter  of 
course  the  result  in  the  filling  of  positions  cannot 
be  satisfactory,  if  the  placing  of  the  individuals  is 
carried  on  without  serious  regard  for  the  personal 
mental  qualities.  The  complaint  that  there  is 
lack  of  fit  human  material  would  probably  never 
entirely  disappear,  as  with  a  better  adjustment 
of  the  material,  the  demands  would  steadily  in- 
crease; but  it  could  at  least  be  predicted  with  high 
probability  that  this  lack  of  really  fit  material 
would  not  be  felt  so  keenly  everywhere  if  the 
really  decisive  factor  for  the  adjustment  of  per- 
sonality and  vocation,  namely,  the  dispositions  of 
the  mind,  were  not  so  carelessly  ignored. 

Society,  to  be  sure,  has  a  convenient  means  of 
correction.  The  individual  tries,  and  when  he  is 
doing  his  work  too  badly,  he  loses  his  job,  he  is 
pushed  out  from  the  career  which  he  has  chosen, 
with  the  great  probability  that  he  will  be  crushed 
by  the  wheels  of  social  life.  It  is  a  rare  occurrence 
for  the  man  who  is  a  failure  in  his  chosen  voca- 
tion, and  who  has  been  thrown  out  of  it,  to  happen 
to  come  into  the  career  in  which  he  can  make  a 
success.  Social  statistics  show  with  an  appalling 
clearness  what  a  burden  and  what  a  danger  to  the 
social  body  is  growing  from  the  masses  of  those 
who  do  not  succeed  and  who  by  their  lack  of  suc- 
cess become  discouraged  and  embittered.     The 

35 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

social  psychologist  cannot  resist  the  conviction 
that  every  single  one  could  have  found  a  place  in 
which  he  could  have  achieved  something  of  value 
for  the  commonwealth.  The  laborer,  who  in  spite 
of  his  best  efforts  shows  himself  useless  and  clumsy 
before  one  machine,  might  perhaps  have  done  satis- 
factory work  in  the  next  mill  where  the  machines 
demand  another  type  of  mental  reaction.  His 
psychical  rhythm  and  his  inner  functions  would 
be  able  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  requirements 
of  the  one  kind  of  labor  and  not  to  those  of  the 
other.  Truly  the  whole  social  body  has  had  to  pay 
a  heavy  penalty  for  not  making  even  the  faintest 
effort  to  settle  systematically  the  fundamental 
problem  of  vocational  choice,  the  problem  of  the 
psychical  adaptation  of  the  individuality.  An 
improvement  would  lie  equally  in  the  interest  of 
those  who  seek  positions  and  those  who  have  posi- 
tions to  offer.  The  employers  can  hope  that  in  all 
departments  better  work  will  be  done  as  soon  as 
better  adapted  individuals  can  be  obtained;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  those  who  are  anxious  to  make 
their  working  energies  effective  may  expect  that 
the  careful  selection  of  individual  mental  char- 
acters for  the  various  tasks  of  the  world  will  in- 
sure not  only  greater  success  and  gain,  but  above 
all  greater  joy  in  the  work,  deeper  satisfaction,  and 
more  harmonious  unfolding  of  the  personality. 


V 

"     SCIENTIFIC   VOCATIONAL   GUIDANCE 

OBSERVATIONS  of  this  kind,  which  refer 
to  the  borderland  region  between  psycho- 
logy and  social  politics,  are  valid  for  all  modern 
nations.  Yet  it  is  hardly  a  chance  that  the  first 
efforts  toward  a  systematic  overcoming  of  some 
of  these  diflSculties  have  been  made  with  us  in 
America.  The  barriers  between  the  classes  lie 
lower;  here  the  choice  of  a  vocation  is  less  deter- 
mined by  tradition;  and  it  belongs  to  the  creed 
of  political  democracy  that  just  as  everybody  can 
be  called  to  the  highest  elective  offices,  so  every- 
body ought  to  be  fit  for  any  vocation  in  any 
sphere  of  life.  The  wandering  from  calling  to 
calling  is  more  frequent  in  America  than  anywhere 
else.  To  be  sure,  this  has  the  advantage  that  a 
failure  in  one  vocation  does  not  bring  with  it  such 
a  serious  injury  as  in  Europe,  but  it  contributes 
much  to  the  greater  danger  that  any  one  may 
jump  recklessly  and  without  preparation  into 
any  vocational  stream. 

It  is  fresh  in  every  one's  mind  how  during  the 
last  decade  the  economic  conscience  of  the  whole 
American  nation  became  aroused.  Up  to  the  end 

37 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

of  the  last  century  the  people  had  lived  with  the 
secure  feeling  of  possessing  a  country  with  inex- 
haustible treasures.  The  last  few  years  brought 
the  reaction,  and  it  became  increasingly  clear  how 
irresponsible  the  national  attitude  had  been,  how 
the  richness  of  the  forests  and  the  mines  and  the 
rivers  had  been  recklessly  squandered  without 
any  thought  of  the  future.  Conservation  of  the 
national  possessions  suddenly  became  the  battle- 
cry,  and  this  turned  the  eye  also  to  that  limitless 
waste  of  human  material,  a  waste  going  on 
everywhere  in  the  world,  but  nowhere  more 
widely  than  in  the  United  States.  The  feeling 
grew  that  no  waste  of  valuable  possessions  is  so 
reckless  as  that  which  results  from  the  distrib- 
uting of  living  force  by  chance  methods  instead 
of  examining  carefully  how  work  and  workmen 
can  fit  one  another.  While  this  was  the  emotional 
background,  two  significant  social  movements 
originated  in  our  midst.  The  two  movements  were 
entirely  independent  of  each  other,  but  from 
two  different  starting-points  they  worked  in  one 
respect  toward  the  same  goal.  They  are  social 
and  economic  movements,  neither  of  which  at 
first  had  anything  directly  to  do  with  psycholog- 
ical questions;  but  both  led  to  a  point  where  the 
psychological  turn  of  the  problem  seemed  un- 
avoidable. Here  begins  the  obligation  of  the  psy- 

38 


SCIENTIFIC  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

chologist,  and  the  possibility  of  fulfilling  this 
obligation  will  be  the  topic  of  our  discussion  con- 
cerning the  selection  of  the  best  man. 

These  two  American  movements  which  we  have 
in  mind  are  the  effort  to  furnish  to  pupils  leav- 
ing the  school  guidance  in  their  choice  of  a  voca- 
tion, and  the  nowadays  still  better  known  move- 
ment toward  scientific  management  in  commerce 
and  industry.  The  movement  toward  vocational 
guidance  is  externally  still  rather  modest  and 
confined  to  very  narrow  circles,  but  it  is  rapidly 
spreading  and  is  not  without  significant  achieve- 
ments. It  started  in  Boston.  There  the  late  Mr. 
Parsons  once  called  a  meeting  of  all  the  boys  of 
his  neighborhood  who  were  to  leave  the  element- 
ary schools  at  the  end  of  the  year.  He  wanted  to 
consider  with  them  whether  they  had  reasonable 
plans  for  their  future.  At  the  well-attended  meet- 
ing it  became  clear  that  the  boys  knew  little  con- 
cerning what  they  had  to  expect  in  practical  life, 
and  Parsons  was  able  to  give  them,  especially  in 
individual  discussions,  much  helpful  informa- 
tion. They  knew  too  little  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  the  vocations  to  which  they  wanted  to 
devote  themselves,  and  they  had  given  hardly 
any  attention  to  the  question  whether  they  had 
the  necessary  qualifications  for  the  special  work. 
From  this  germ  grew  a  little  ojQSce  which  was 

39 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

opened  in  1908,  in  which  all  Boston  boys  and  girls 
at  the  time  when  they  left  school  were  to  receive 
individual  suggestions  with  reference  to  the  most 
reasonable  and  best  adjusted  selection  of  a  calling. 
There  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  the  remarkable 
success  of  this  modest  beginning  was  dependent 
upon  the  admirable  personality  of  the  late  or- 
ganizer, who  recognized  the  individual  features 
with  unusual  tact  and  acumen.  But  he  himself 
had  no  doubt  that  such  a  merely  impressionistic 
method  could  not  satisfy  the  demands.  He  saw 
that  a  threefold  advance  would  become  necessary. 
First,  it  was  essential  to  analyze  the  objective 
relations  of  the  many  hundred  kinds  of  accessible 
vocations.  Their  economic,  hygienic,  technical, 
and  social  elements  ought  to  be  examined  so  that 
every  boy  and  girl  could  receive  reliable  informa- 
tion as  to  the  demands  of  the  vocation  and  as  to 
the  prospects  and  opportunities  in  it.  Secondly, 
it  would  become  essential  to  interest  the  schools 
in  all  these  complex  questions  of  vocational 
choice,  so  that,  by  observation  of  individual  tend- 
encies and  abilities  of  the  pupils,  the  teachers 
might  furnish  preparatory  material  for  the  work 
of  the  institute  for  vocational  guidance.  Thirdly, 
—  and  this  is  for  us  the  most  important  point,  — 
he  saw  that  the  methods  had  to  be  elaborated  in 
such  a  way  that  the  personal  traits  and  disposi- 

40 


SCIENTIFIC  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

tions  might  be  discovered  with  much  greater 
exactitude  and  with  much  richer  detail  than  was 
possible  through  what  a  mere  call  on  the  voca- 
tional counselor  could  unveil/^ 

It  is  well  known  how  this  Boston  bureau  has 
stimulated  a  number  of  American  cities  to  come 
forward  with  similar  beginnings.  The  pedagog- 
ical circles  have  been  especially  aroused  by  the 
movement,  municipal  and  philanthropic  boards 
have  at  least  approached  this  group  of  problems, 
two  important  conferences  for  vocational  guid- 
ance have  met  in  New  York,  and  at  various 
places  the  question  has  been  discussed  whether 
or  not  a  vocational  counselor  might  be  attached 
to  the  schools  in  a  position  similar  to  that  of  the 
school  physician.  The  chief  progress  has  been 
made  in  the  direction  of  collecting  reliable  data 
with  reference  to  the  economic  and  hygienic  con- 
ditions of  the  various  vocations,  the  demand  and 
supply  and  the  scale  of  wages.  In  short,  everything 
connected  with  the  externalities  of  the  vocations 
has  been  carefully  analyzed,  and  sufficient  reliable 
material  has  been  gained,  at  least  regarding  cer- 
tain local  conditions.  In  the  place  of  individual 
advice,  we  have  thus  to  a  certain  degree  obtained 
general  economic  investigations  from  which  each 
can  gather  what  he  needs.  It  seems  that  some- 
times the  danger  of  letting  such  offices  degenerate 

41 


THE   BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

into  mere  agencies  for  employment  has  not  been 
avoided,  but  that  is  one  of  the  perils  of  the  first 
development.  The  mother  institute  in  Boston, 
too,  under  its  new  direction  emphasizes  more  the 
economic  and  hygienic  side,  and  has  set  its  centre 
of  gravity  in  a  systematic  effort  to  propagate  un- 
derstanding of  the  problems  of  vocational  guid- 
ance and  to  train  professional  vocational  counsel- 
ors in  systematic  courses,  who  are  then  to  carry 
the  interest  over  the  land.^ 

The  real  psychological  analysis  with  which  the 
movement  began  has,  therefore,  been  somewhat 
pushed  aside  for  a  while,  and  the  officers  of  those 
institutes  declare  frankly  that  they  want  to  return 
to  the  mental  problem  only  after  professional  psy- 
chologists have  sufiiciently  worked  out  the  specific 
methods  for  its  mastery.  Most  counselors  seem  to 
feel  instinctively  that  the  core  of  the  whole  matter 
lies  in  the  psychological  examination,  but  they 
all  agree  that  for  this  they  must  wait  until  the 
psychological  laboratories  can  furnish  them  with 
really  reliable  means  and  schemes.  Certainly  it 
is  very  important,  for  instance,  that  boys  with 
weak  lungs  be  kept  away  from  such  industrial  vo- 
cations as  have  been  shown  by  the  statistics  to  be 
dangerous  for  the  lungs,  or  that  the  onrush  to 
vocations  be  stopped  where  the  statistics  allow  it 
to  be  foreseen  that  there  will  soon  be  an  over- 

42 


SCIENTIFIC  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

supply  of  workers.  But,  after  all,  it  remains 
much  more  decisive  for  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, and  for  the  future  life  happiness  of  those 
who  leave  the  school,  that  every  one  turn  to  those 
forms  of  work  to  which  his  psychological  traits 
are  adjusted,  or  at  least  that  he  be  kept  away  from 
those  in  which  his  mental  qualities  and  disposi- 
tions would  make  a  truly  successful  advance 
improbable. 

The  problem  accordingly  has  been  handed  over 
from  the  vocational  counselors  to  the  experimen- 
tal psychologists,  and  it  is  certainly  in  the  spirit 
of  the  modern  tendency  toward  applied  psychol- 
ogy that  the  psychological  laboratories  undertake 
the  investigation  and  withdraw  it  from  the  dilet- 
tantic  discussion  of  amateur  psychologists  or  the 
mere  impressionism  of  the  school-teachers.  Even 
those  early  beginnings  indicate  clearly  that  the 
goal  can  be  reached  only  through  exact,  scientific, 
experimental  research,  and  that  the  mere  naive 
methods  —  for  instance,  the  filling-out  of  ques- 
tionnaires which  may  be  quite  useful  in  the  first 
approach  —  cannot  be  suflScient  for  a  real,  per- 
sistent furtherance  of  economic  life  and  of  the 
masses  who  seek  their  vocations.  In  order  to 
gain  an  analysis  of  the  individual.  Parsons  made 
every  applicant  answer  in  writing  a  long  series  of 
questions  which  referred  to  his  habits  and  his 

43 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

emotions,  his  inclinations  and  his  expectations,  his 
traits  and  his  experiences.  The  psychologist,  how- 
ever, can  hardly  be  in  doubt  that  just  the  mental 
qualities  which  ought  to  be  most  important  for 
the  vocational  counselor  can  scarcely  be  found  out 
by  such  methods.  We  have  emphasized  before 
that  the  ordinary  individual  knows  very  little  of 
his  own  mental  functions :  on  the  whole,  he  knows 
them  as  little  as  he  knows  the  muscles  which  he 
uses  when  he  talks  or  walks.  Among  his  ques- 
tions Parsons  included  such  ones  as:  "Are  your 
manners  quiet,  noisy,  boisterous,  deferential,  or 
self-assertive.'^  Are  you  thoughtful  of  the  comfort 
of  others?  Do  you  smile  naturally  and  easily, 
or  is  your  face  ordinarily  expressionless?  Are  you 
frank,  kindly,  cordial,  respectful,  courteous  in 
word  and  actions?  Do  you  look  people  frankly 
in  the  eye?  Are  your  inflections  natural,  cour- 
teous, modest,  musical,  or  aggressive,  conceited, 
pessimistic,  repellent?  What  are  your  powers 
of  attention,  observation,  memory,  reason,  imag- 
ination, inventiveness,  thoughtfulness,  receptive- 
ness,  quickness,  analytical  power,  constructive- 
ness,  breadth,  grasp?  Can  you  manage  people 
well?  Do  you  know  a  fine  picture  when  you  see 
it?  Is  your  will  weak,  yielding,  vacillating,  or 
firm,  strong,  stubborn?  Do  you  like  to  be  with 
people  and  do  they  like  to  be  with  you?"  —  and 

44 


SCIENTIFIC   VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

so  on.  It  is  clear  that  the  replies  to  questions  of 
this  kind  can  be  of  psychological  value  only  when 
the  questioner  knows  beforehand  the  mind  of  the 
youth,  and  can  accordingly  judge  with  what  de- 
gree of  understanding,  sincerity,  and  ability  the 
circular  blanks  have  been  filled  out.  But  as  the 
questions  are  put  for  the  very  purpose  of  revealing 
the  personality,  the  entire  effort  tends  to  move 
in  a  circle. 

To  break  this  circle,  it  indeed  becomes  neces- 
sary to  emancipate  one's  self  from  the  method  of 
ordinary  self-observation  and  to  replace  it  by 
objective  experiment  in  the  psychological  lab- 
oratory. Experimentation  in  such  a  laboratory 
stands  in  no  contrast  to  the  method  of  introspec- 
tion. A  contrast  does  exist  between  self -observa- 
tion and  observation  on  children  or  patients  or 
primitive  peoples  or  animals.  In  their  case  the 
psychologist  observes  his  material  from  with- 
out. But  in  the  case  of  the  typical  laboratory 
experiment,  everything  is  ultimately  based  on 
self -observation ;  only  we  have  to  do  with  the  self- 
observation  under  exact  conditions  which  the  ex- 
perimenter is  able  to  control  and  to  vary  at  will. 
Even  Parsons  sometimes  turned  to  little  experi- 
mental inquiries  in  which  he  simplified  some  well- 
known  methods  of  the  laboratory  in  order  to 
secure  with  the  most  elementary  means  a  cer- 

45 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

tain  objective  foundation  for  his  mental  analysis. 
For  instance,  he  sometimes  examined  the  mem- 
ory by  reading  to  the  boys  graded  sentences  con- 
taining from  ten  to  fifty  words  and  having  them 
repeat  what  they  remembered,  or  he  measured 
with  a  watch  the  rapidity  of  reading  and  writing, 
or  he  determined  the  sensitiveness  for  the  dis- 
crimination of  differences  by  asking  them  to  make 
a  point  with  a  pencil  in  the  centres  of  circles  of  va- 
rious sizes.     But  if  such  experimental  schemes, 
even  of  the  simplest  form,  are  in  question,  it 
seems  a  matter  of  course  that  the  plan  ought  to 
be  prescribed  by  real  scientists  who  specialize  in 
the  psychological  field.   The  psychologist,  for  in- 
stance, surely  cannot  agree  to  a  method  which 
measures  the  memory  by  such  a  method  of  hav- 
ing spoken  sentences  repeated  and  the  quality 
of  the  memory  faculty  naively  graded  according 
to  the  results.    He  knows  too  well  that  there  are 
many  different  kinds  of  memory,  and  would  al- 
ways determine  first  which  type  of  memory  func- 
tions is  to  be  examined  if  memory  achievements 
are  needed  for  a  particular  calling. 

But  even  with  a  more  exact  method  of  experi- 
menting, such  a  procedure  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  solve  the  true  problem.  A  second  step  would 
still  be  necessary:  namely,  the  adaptation  of  the 
experimental  result  to  the  special  psychological 

46 


SCIENTIFIC  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

requirements  of  the  economic  activity;  and  this 
again  presupposes  an  independent  psychological 
analysis.  Most  of  the  previous  efforts  have  suf- 
fered from  the  carelessness  with  which  this  sec- 
ond step  was  ignored,  and  the  special  mental  re- 
quirements were  treated  as  a  matter  of  course 
upon  which  any  layman  could  judge.  In  reality 
they  need  the  most  careful  psychological  analy- 
sis, and  only  if  this  is  carried  out  with  the  means 
of  scientific  psychology,  can  a  study  of  the  abili- 
ties of  the  individual  become  serviceable  to  the 
demands  of  the  market.  Such  a  psychological 
disentangling  of  the  requirements  of  the  callings, 
in  the  interest  of  guidance,  is  attempted  in  the 
material  which  the  various  vocational  institutes 
have  prepared,  but  it  seldom  goes  beyond  com- 
monplaces. We  read  there,  for  instance,^  for 
the  confectioner:  "Boys  in  this  industry  must  be 
clean,  quick,  and  strong.  The  most  important 
qualities  desired  are  neatness  and  adaptability  to 
routine";  or  for  the  future  baker,  the  boy  "ought 
to  know  how  to  conduct  himself  and  to  meet  the 
public";  or  for  the  future  architectural  designer, 
"he  must  have  creative  ability,  artistic  feeling, 
and  power  to  sketch";  or  for  the  dressmaker,  she 
"should  have  good  eyesight  and  good  sense  of 
color,  and  an  ability  to  use  her  hands  readily;  she 
should  be  able  to  apply  herself  steadily  and  be 

47 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

fairly  quick  in  her  movements ;  neatness  of  person 
is  also  essential " ;  or  for  the  stenographer,  she  must 
be  "possessed  of  intelligence,  good  judgment,  and 
common  sense;  must  have  good  eyesight,  good 
hearing,  and  a  good  memory;  must  have  quick 
perception,  and  be  able  to  concentrate  her  atten- 
tion completely  on  any  matter  in  hand."  It  is 
evident  that  all  this  is  extremely  far  from  any 
psychological  analysis  in  the  terms  of  science. 
All  taken  together,  we  may,  therefore,  say  that 
in  the  movement  for  vocational  guidance  prac- 
tically nothing  has  been  done  to  make  modern 
experimental  psychology  serviceable  to  the  new 
task.  But  on  the  one  side,  it  has  shown  that  this 
work  of  the  experimental  psychologist  is  the  next 
step  necessary.  On  the  other  side,  it  has  become 
evident  that  in  the  vocation  bureaus  appropriate 
social  agencies  are  existing  which  are  ready  to 
take  up  the  results  of  such  work,  and  to  apply 
them  for  the  good  of  the  American  youth  and  of 
commerce  and  industry,  as  soon  as  the  experi- 
mental psychologist  has  developed  the  significant 
methods. 


VI 

SCIENTIFIC    MANAGEMENT 

BEFORE  we  discuss  some  cases  of  such  ex- 
perimental investigations,  we  may  glance 
at  that  other  American  movement,  the  well- 
known  systematic  effort  toward  scientific  man- 
agement which  has  often  been  interpreted  in 
an  expansive  literature.^  Enthusiastic  followers 
have  declared  it  to  be  the  greatest  advance  in 
industry  since  the  introduction  of  the  mill  system 
and  of  machinery.  Opponents  have  hastily  de- 
nounced it  as  a  mistake,  and  have  insisted  that 
it  proved  a  failure  in  the  factories  in  which  it  has 
been  introduced.  A  sober  examination  of  the  facts 
soon  demonstrates  that  the  truth  lies  in  the  middle. 
Those  followers  of  Frederick  W.  Taylor  who  have 
made  almost  a  religion  out  of  his  ideas  have  cer- 
tainly often  exaggerated  the  practical  applicability 
of  the  new  theories,  and  their  actual  reforms  in 
the  mills  have  not  seldom  shown  that  the  system 
is  still  too  topheavy;  that  is,  there  are  too  many 
higher  employees  necessary  in  order  to  keep  the 
works  running  on  principles  of  scientific  man- 
agement. On  the  other  hand,  the  opposition 
which  comes  from  certain  quarters,  —  for  instance, 

49 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

from  some  trade-unions,  —  may  be  disregarded, 
as  it  is  not  directed  against  the  claim  that  the  effi- 
ciency can  be  heightened,  but  only  against  some 
social  features  of  the  scheme,  such  as  the  result- 
ing temporary  reduction  of  the  number  of  work- 
men. But  nobody  can  deny  that  this  revolu- 
tionary movement  has  introduced  most  valuable 
suggestions  which  the  industrial  world  cannot 
afford  to  ignore,  and  that  as  soon  as  exaggerations 
are  avoided  and  experience  has  created  a  broader 
foundation,  the  principles  of  the  new  theory  will 
prove  of  lasting  value.  We  shall  have  to  discuss, 
at  a  later  point,  various  special  features  of  the 
system,  especially  the  highly  interesting  motion 
study.  Here  we  have  to  deal  only  with  those  tend- 
encies of  the  movement  and  with  those  interests 
which  point  toward  our  present  problem,  the 
mental  analysis  of  the  individual  employees  in 
order  to  avoid  misfits. 

The  approach  to  this  problem,  indeed,  seems 
unavoidable  for  the  students  of  scientific  man- 
agement, as  its  goal  is  an  organization  of  economic 
work  by  which  the  waste  of  energy  will  be  avoided 
and  the  greatest  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  the 
industrial  enterprise  will  be  reached.  The  recog- 
nition that  this  can  never  be  effected  by  a  mere 
excessive  driving  of  the  workingmen  belongs  to 
its  very  presuppositions.  The  illusory  means  of 

50 


SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

prolongation  of  the  working-time  and  similar  de- 
vices by  which  the  situation  of  the  individual  de- 
teriorates would  be  out  of  the  question;  on  the 
contrary,  the  heightening  of  the  individual's  joy 
in  the  work  and  of  the  personal  satisfaction  in 
one's  total  life  development  belongs  among  the 
most  important  indirect  agencies  of  the  new 
scheme.  This  end  is  reached  by  many  character- 
istic changes  in  the  division  of  labor;  also  by  a 
new  division  between  supervisors  and  workers,  by 
transformations  of  the  work  itself  and  of  the  tools 
and  vehicles.  But  as  a  by-product  of  these  efforts 
the  demand  necessarily  arose  for  means  by  which 
the  fit  individuals  could  be  found  for  special  kinds 
of  labor.  The  more  scientific  management  intro- 
duced changes  by  which  the  individual  achieve- 
ment often  had  to  become  rather  complicated  and 
difficult,  the  more  it  became  necessary  to  study 
the  skill  and  the  endurance  and  the  intelligence 
of  the  individual  laborers  in  order  to  entrust  these 
new  difficult  tasks  only  to  the  most  appropriate 
men  in  the  factories  and  mills.  The  problem  of 
individual  selection  accordingly  forced  itself  on 
the  new  efficiency  engineers,  and  they  naturally 
recognized  that  the  really  essential  traits  and  dis- 
positions were  the  mental  ones.  In  the  most  pro- 
gressive books  of  the  new  movement,  this  need  of 
emphasizing  the  selection  of  workers  with  refer- 

51 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

ence  to  their  mental  equipment  comes  to  clear 
expression. 

Yet  this  is  very  far  from  a  real  application  of 
scientific  psychology  to  the  problem  at  hand. 
Wherever  the  question  of  the  selection  of  the  fit 
men  after  psychological  principles  is  mentioned 
in  the  literature  of  this  movement,  the  language 
becomes  vague,  and  the  same  men,  who  use  the 
newest  scientific  knowledge  whenever  physics  or 
mathematics  or  physiology  or  chemistry  are  in- 
volved, make  hardly  any  attempts  to  introduce 
the  results  of  science  when  psychology  is  in  ques- 
tion.  The  clearest  insight  into  the  general  situa- 
tion may  be  found  in  the  most  recent  books  by 
Emerson.    He  says  frankly:  "It  is  psychology, 
not  soil  or  climate,  that  enables  a  man  to  raise  five 
times  as  many  potatoes  per  acre  as  the  average 
in  his  own  state";  ^  or:  "In  selecting  human  as- 
sistants   such    superficialities    as    education,    as 
physical  strength,  even  antecedent  morality,  are 
not  as  important  as  the  inner  attitudes,  procliv- 
ities, character,  which  after  all  determine  the  man 
or  woman."  ^   He  also  fully  recognizes  the  ne- 
cessity of  securing  as  early  as  possible  the  psycho- 
logical essentials.    He  says:  "The  type  for  the 
great  newspaper  is  set  up  by  linotype  operators. 
Apprenticeship  is  rigorously  limited.    Some  op- 
erators can  never  get  beyond  the  2500-em  class, 

52 


SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

others  with  no  more  personal  effort  can  set  5000 
ems.  Do  the  employers  test  out  applicants  for 
apprenticeship  so  as  to  be  sure  to  secure  boys  who 
will  develop  into  the  5000-em  class?  They  do  not: 
they  select  applicants  for  any  near  reason  except 
the  fundamental  important  one  of  innate  fit- 
ness." ^  But  all  this  points  only  to  the  existence 
of  the  problem,  and  in  reality  gives  not  even  a  hint 
for  its  solution.  The  theorists  of  scientific  manage- 
ment seem  to  think  that  the  most  subtle  methods 
are  indispensable  for  physical  measurements,  but 
for  psychological  inquiry  nothing  but  a  kind  of 
intuition  is  necessary.  Emerson  tells  how,  for  in- 
stance, "The  competent  specialist  who  has  supple- 
mented natural  gifts  and  good  judgment  by 
analysis  and  synthesis  can  perceive  attitudes  and 
proclivities  even  in  the  very  young,  much  more 
readily  in  those  semi-matured,  and  can  with  al- 
most infallible  certainty  point  out,  not  only  what 
work  can  be  undertaken  with  fair  hope  of  success, 
but  also  what  slight  modification  or  addition  and 
diminution  will  more  than  double  the  personal 
power."  ^^  The  true  psychological  specialists 
surely  ought  to  decline  this  flattering  confidence. 
Far  from  the  "  almost  infallible  certainty,"  they  can 
hardly  expect  even  a  moderate  amount  of  success 
in  such  directions  so  long  as  specific  methods  have 
not  been  elaborated,  and  so  long  as  no  way  has 

53 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

been  shown  to  make  experimental  measurements 
by  which  such  mere  guesswork  can  be  replaced 
by  scientific  investigation. 

The  only  modest  effort  to  try  a  step  in  this 
direction  toward  the  psychological  laboratory  is 
recorded  by  Taylor,^^  who  tells  of  Mr.  S.  E. 
Thompson's  work  in  a  bicycle  ball  factory,  where 
a  hundred  and  twenty  girls  were  inspecting  the 
balls.  They  had  to  place  a  row  of  small  polished 
steel  balls  on  the  back  of  the  left  hand  and  while 
they  were  rolled  over  and  over  in  the  crease  be- 
tween two  of  the  fingers  placed  together,  they 
were  minutely  examined  in  a  strong  light  and  the 
defective  balls  were  picked  out  with  the  aid  of  a 
magnet  held  in  the  right  hand.  The  work  re- 
quired the  closest  attention  and  concentration. 
The  girls  were  working  ten  and  a  half  hours  a  day. 
Mr.  Thompson  soon  recognized  that  the  quality 
most  needed,  beside  endurance  and  industry,  was 
a  quick  power  of  perception  accompanied  by 
quick  responsive  action.  He  knew  that  the  psy- 
chological laboratory  has  developed  methods  for 
a  very  exact  measurement  of  the  time  needed  to 
react  on  an  impression  with  the  quickest  possible 
movement;  it  is  called  the  reaction-time,  and  is 
usually  measured  in  thousandths  of  a  second.  He 
therefore  considered  it  advisable  to  measure  the 
reaction-time  of  the  girls,  and  to  eliminate  from 

54 


SCIENTIFIC  MANAGEMENT 

service  all  those  who  showed  a  relatively  long  time 
between  the  stimulus  and  reaction.  This  involved 
laying  off  many  of  the  most  intelligent,  hardest- 
working,  and  most  trustworthy  girls.  Yet  the 
effect  was  the  possibility  of  shortening  the  hours 
and  of  reducing  more  and  more  the  number  of 
workers,  with  the  final  outcome  that  thirty-five 
girls  did  the  work  formerly  done  by  a  hundred 
and  twenty,  and  that  the  accuracy  of  the  work 
at  the  higher  speed  was  two  thirds  greater  than 
at  the  former  slow  speed.  This  allowed  almost  a 
doubling  of  the  wages  of  the  girls  in  spite  of  their 
shorter  working-day,  and  at  the  same  time  a  con- 
siderable reduction  in  the  cost  of  the  work  for  the 
factory.  This  excursion  of  an  efficiency  engineer 
into  the  psychological  laboratory  remained,  how- 
ever, an  entirely  exceptional  case.  Moreover,  such 
a  reaction-time  measurement  did  not  demand 
any  special  development  of  new  methods  or  any 
particular  mental  analysis,  and  this  exception 
thus  confirms  the  rule  that  the  followers  of  scien- 
tific management  principles  have  recognized  the 
need  of  psychological  inquiries,  but  have  not 
done  anything  worth  mentioning  to  apply  the  re- 
sults of  really  scientific  psychology.  Hence  the 
situation  is  the  same  as  in  the  field  of  vocational 
guidance.  In  both  cases  a  vague  longing  for 
psychological  analysis  and  psychological  measure- 

55 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

ment,  but  in  both  cases  so  far  everything  has 
remained  on  the  level  of  helpless  psychological 
dilettantism.  It  stands  in  striking  contrast  with 
the  scientific  seriousness  with  which  the  economic 
questions  are  taken  up  in  the  field  of  vocational 
guidance  and  the  physical  questions  in  the  field  of 
scientific  management.  It  is,  therefore,  evidently 
the  duty  of  the  experimental  psychologists  them- 
selves to  examine  the  ground  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  psychological  laboratory. 


VII 

THE   METHODS    OF    EXPERIMENTAL 
PSYCHOLOGY 

WE  now  see  clearly  the  psychotechnical 
problem.  We  have  to  analyze  definite 
economic  tasks  with  reference  to  the  mental  qual- 
ities which  are  necessary  or  desirable  for  them,  and 
we  have  to  find  methods  by  which  these  mental 
qualities  can  be  tested.  We  must,  indeed,  insist 
on  it  that  the  interests  of  commerce  and  industry 
can  be  helped  only  when  both  sides,  the  vocational 
demands  and  the  personal  function,  are  examined 
with  equal  scientific  thoroughness.  One  aspect 
alone  is  unsatisfactory.  It  would  of  course  be  pos- 
sible to  confine  the  examination  to  the  individual 
mental  traits,  and  then  theoretically  to  determine 
for  which  economic  tasks  the  presence  of  these 
qualities  would  be  useful  and  for  which  tasks 
their  absence  or  their  deficiency  would  be  fatal. 
Common  sense  may  be  suflBcient  to  lead  us  a  few 
steps  in  that  direction.  For  instance,  if  we  find 
by  psychological  examination  that  an  individual 
is  color-blind  for  red  and  green  sensations,  we  may 
at  once  conclude,  without  any  real  psychological 
analysis  of  the  vocations,  that  he  would  be  unfit 

57 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

for  the  railroad  service  or  the  naval  service,  in 
which  red  and  green  signals  are  of  importance. 
We  may  also  decide  at  once  that  such  a  boy  would 
be  useless  for  all  artistic  work  in  which  the  nu- 
ances of  colors  are  of  consequence,  or  as  a  laborer 
in  certain  departments  of  a  dyeing  establishment, 
and  that  such  a  color-blind  girl  would  not  do  at  a 
dressmaker's  or  in  a  millinery  store.  But  if  we 
come  to  the  question  whether  such  a  color-blind 
individual  may  enter  into  the  business  of  garden- 
ing, in  spite  of  the  inability  to  distinguish  the 
strawberries  in  the  bed  or  the  red  flowers  among 
the  green  leaves,  the  first  necessity,  after  all, 
would  be  to  find  out  how  far  the  particular  de- 
mands of  this  vocation  make  the  ability  to  dis- 
criminate color  a  prerequisite,  and  how  far  psy- 
chical substitutions,  such  as  a  recognition  of  the 
forms  and  of  differences  in  the  light  intensity,  may 
be  suflBcient  for  the  practical  task.  Moreover, 
where  not  merely  such  mental  defects,  but  more 
subtly  shaded  variations  within  normal  limits  are 
involved,  it  would  be  superficial,  if  only  the  men- 
tal states  were  examined  and  not  at  the  same  time 
the  mental  requirements  of  the  vocations  them- 
selves. The  vocation  should  rather  remain  the 
starting-point.  We  must  at  first  find  out  what 
demands  on  the  mental  system  are  made  by  it,  and 
we  must  grade  these  demands  in  order  to  recog- 

58 


EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

nize  the  more  or  less  important  ones,  and,  espe- 
cially for  the  important  ones,  we  must  then  seek 
exact  standards  with  experimental  methods. 

Such  an  experimental  investigation  may  pro- 
ceed according  to  either  of  two  different  principles. 
One  way  is  to  take  the  mental  process  which  is 
demanded  by  the  industrial  work  as  an  undivided 
whole.  In  this  case  we  have  to  construct  experi- 
mental conditions  under  which  this  total  activity 
can  be  performed  in  a  gradual,  measurable  way. 
The  psychical  part  of  the  vocational  work  thus 
becomes  schematized,  and  is  simply  rendered  ex- 
perimentally on  a  reduced  scale.  The  other  way 
is  to  resolve  the  mental  process  into  its  compon- 
ents and  to  test  every  single  elementary  function 
in  its  isolated  form.  In  this  latter  case  the  exam- 
ination has  the  advantage  of  having  at  its  disposal 
all  the  familiar  methods  of  experimental  psycho- 
logy, while  in  the  first  case  for  every  special  voca- 
tional situation  perfectly  new  experimental  tests 
must  be  devised. 

Whether  the  one  or  the  other  method  is  to  be 
preferred  must  depend  upon  the  nature  of  the  par- 
ticular commercial  or  industrial  calling,  and  ac- 
cordingly presupposes  a  careful  analysis  of  the 
special  economical  processes.  It  is,  indeed,  easy 
to  recognize  that  in  certain  industrial  activities 
a  series  of  psychical  functions  is  in  question  which 

59 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

all  lie  side  by  side  and  which  do  not  fuse  into  one 
united  total  process,  however  much  they  may 
influence  one  another.  But  for  many  industrial 
tasks  just  this  unity  is  the  essential  condition. 
The  testing  of  the  mental  elements  would  be  in 
such  cases  as  insufficient  as  if  we  were  to  test  a 
machine  with  reference  to  its  parts  only  and  not 
with  reference  to  its  total  united  performance. 
Even  in  this  latter  case  this  unified  function  does 
not  represent  the  total  personality:  it  is  always 
merely  a  segment  of  the  whole  mental  life.  We 
may  examine  with  psychological  methods,  for 
instance,  the  fitness  of  an  employee  for  a  technical 
vocation  and  may  test  the  particular  complex 
unified  combination  of  attention,  imagination  and 
intelligence,  will  and  memory,  which  is  essential 
for  that  special  kind  of  labor.  We  may  be  able  to 
reconstruct  the  conditions  so  completely  that  we 
would  feel  justified  in  predicting  whether  the 
individual  can  fulfill  that  technical  task  or  not; 
and  yet  we  may  disregard  entirely  the  question 
whether  that  man  is  honest  or  dishonest,  whether 
he  is  pacific  or  quarrelsome ;  in  short,  whether  his 
mental  disposition  makes  him  a  desirable  mem- 
ber of  that  industrial  concern  under  other  aspects. 
We  best  recognize  the  significance  of  these  vari- 
ous methods  by  selecting  a  few  concrete  cases  as 
illustrations  and  analzying  them  in  detail.   But  a 

60 


EXPERIMENTAL   PSYCHOLOGY 

word  of  warning  may  be  given  beforehand  so  as 
to  avoid  misunderstandings.  These  examples  do 
not  stand  here  as  reports  of  completed  investiga- 
tions, the  results  of  which  ought  to  be  accepted 
as  conclusive  parts  of  the  new  psychotechnical 
science;  they  are  not  presented  as  if  the  results 
were  to  be  recommended  like  a  well-tested  ma- 
chine for  practical  purposes.  Such  really  com- 
pleted investigations  do  not  as  yet  exist  in  this 
field.  All  that  can  be  offered  is  modest  pioneer 
work,  and  just  these  inquiries  into  the  mental 
qualities  and  their  relations  to  the  industrial  vo- 
cations have  attracted  my  attention  only  very  re- 
cently, and  therefore  certainly  still  demand  long 
continuations  of  the  experiments  in  every  direc- 
tion. But  we  may  hope  for  satisfactory  results 
the  earlier,  the  more  cooperators  are  entering  the 
field,  and  the  more  such  researches  are  started 
in  other  places  and  in  other  institutions.  I  there- 
fore offer  these  early  reports  at  the  first  stage  of 
my  research  merely  as  stimulations,  so  as  to  de- 
monstrate the  possibilities. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  method  of  examining 
the  mental  process  as  a  whole,  I  propose  to  discuss 
the  case  of  the  motormen  in  the  electric  railways. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  other  type,  namely,  of 
analyzing  the  activity  and  testing  the  elementary 
functions,  I  shall  discuss  the  case  of  the  employ- 

61 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

ees  in  the  telephone  service.  I  select  these  two 
functions,  as  both  play  a  practically  important 
role  in  the  technique  of  modern  economic  life  and 
as  in  both  occupations  very  large  numbers  of  in- 
dividuals are  engaged  in  the  work. 


VIII 

EXPERIMENTS  IN   THE   INTEREST  OF   ELECTRIC 
RAILWAY    SERVICE 

THE  problem  of  securing  fit  motonnen  for 
the  electric  railways  was  brought  to  my  at- 
tention from  without.  The  accidents  which  oc- 
curred through  the  fault,  or  at  least  not  without 
the  fault,  of  the  motormen  in  street  railway 
transportation  have  always  aroused  disquietude 
and  even  indignation  in  the  public,  and  the  street 
railway  companies  suffered  much  from  the  many 
payments  of  indemnity  imposed  by  the  court  as 
they  amounted  to  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  gross 
earnings  of  some  companies.  Last  winter  the 
American  Association  for  Labor  Legislation 
called  a  meeting  of  vocational  specialists  to  dis- 
cuss the  problem  of  these  accidents  under  various 
aspects.  The  street  railways  of  various  cities  were 
represented,  and  economic,  physiological,  and 
psychological  specialists  took  part  in  the  general 
discussion.  Much  attention  was  given,  of  course, 
to  the  questions  of  fatigue  and  to  the  statistical 
results  as  to  the  number  of  accidents  and  their  re- 
lation to  the  various  hours  of  the  day  and  to  the 
time  of  labor.    But  there  was  a  strong  tendency 

63 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

to  recognize,  as  still  more  important  than  the 
mere  fatigue,  the  whole  mental  constitution  of  the 
motormen.  The  ability  to  keep  attention  con- 
stant, to  resist  distraction  by  chance  happenings 
on  the  street,  and  especially  the  always  needed 
ability  to  foresee  the  possible  movements  of  the 
pedestrians  and  vehicles  were  acknowledged  as 
extremely  different  from  man  to  man.  The  com- 
panies claimed  that  there  are  motormen  who  prac- 
tically never  have  an  accident,  because  they  feel 
beforehand  even  what  the  confused  pedestrian 
and  the  unskilled  chauffeur  will  do,  while  others 
relatively  often  experience  accidents  of  all  kinds 
because  they  do  not  foresee  how  matters  will  de- 
velop. They  can  hardly  be  blamed,  as  they  were 
not  careless,  and  yet  the  accidents  did  result  from 
their  personal  qualities;  they  simply  lacked  the 
gift  of  instinctive  foresight.  All  this  turned  the 
attention  more  and  more  to  the  possibilities  of 
psychological  analysis,  and  the  Association  sug- 
gested that  I  undertake  an  inquiry  into  this  inter- 
esting problem  with  the  means  of  the  psycholog- 
ical laboratory.  I  felt  the  practical  importance  of 
the  problem,  considering  that  there  are  electric 
railway  companies  in  this  country  which  have  up 
to  fifty  thousand  accident  indemnity  cases  a  year. 
It  therefore  seemed  to  me  decidedly  worth  while 
to  undertake  a  laboratory  investigation, 

G4 


ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

It  would  have  been  quite  possible  to  treat  the 
functions  of  themotormen  according  to  the  method 
which  resolves  the  complex  achievement  into  its 
various  elements  and  tests  every  function  inde- 
pendently. For  instance,  the  stopping  of  the  car 
as  soon  as  the  danger  of  an  accident  threatens  is 
evidently  effective  only  if  the  movement  control- 
ling the  lever  is  carried  out  with  sufficient  rapidity. 
We  should  accordingly  be  justified  in  examining 
the  quickness  with  which  the  individual  reacts  on 
optical  stimuli.  If  a  playing  child  suddenly  runs 
across  the  track  of  the  electric  railway,  a  differ- 
ence of  a  tenth  of  a  second  in  the  reaction-time 
may  decide  his  fate.  But  I  may  say  at  once  that 
I  did  not  find  characteristic  differences  in  the 
rapidity  of  reaction  of  those  motormen  whom  the 
company  had  found  reliable  and  those  who  have 
frequent  accidents.  It  seems  that  the  slow  indi- 
viduals do  not  remain  in  the  service  at  all.  As  a 
matter  of  course  certain  other  indispensable  sin- 
gle functions,  like  sharpness  of  vision,  are  exam- 
ined before  the  entrance  into  the  service  and  so 
they  cannot  stand  as  characteristic  conditions  of 
good  or  bad  service  among  the  actual  employees. 
For  this  reason,  in  the  case  of  the  motormen  I 
abstracted  from  the  study  of  single  elementary 
functions  and  turned  my  attention  to  that  mental 
process  which   after  some  careful    observations 

65 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

seemed  to  me  the  really  central  one  for  the  pro- 
blem of  accidents.  I  found  this  to  be  a  particular 
complicated  act  of  attention  by  which  the  mani- 
foldness  of  objects,  the  pedestrians,  the  carriages, 
and  the  automobiles,  are  continuously  observed 
with  reference  to  their  rapidity  and  direction  in 
the  quickly  changing  panorama  of  the  street. 
Moving  figures  come  from  the  right  and  from  the 
left  toward  and  across  the  track,  and  are  embed- 
ded in  a  stream  of  men  and  vehicles  which  moves 
parallel  to  the  track.  In  the  face  of  such  mani- 
foldness  there  are  men  whose  impulses  are  almost 
inhibited  and  who  instinctively  desire  to  wait  for 
the  movement  of  the  nearest  objects;  they  would 
evidently  be  unfit  for  the  service,  as  they  would 
drive  the  electric  car  far  too  slowly.  There  are 
others  who,  even  with  the  car  at  high  speed,  can 
adjust  themselves  for  a  time  to  the  complex  mov- 
ing situation,  but  whose  attention  soon  lapses,  and 
while  they  are  fixating  a  rather  distant  carriage, 
may  overlook  a  pedestrian  who  carelessly  crosses 
the  track  immediately  in  front  of  their  car.  In 
short,  we  have  a  great  variety  of  mental  types  of 
this  characteristic  unified  activity,  which  may  be 
understood  as  a  particular  combination  of  atten- 
tion and  imagination. 

My  effort  was  to  transplant  this  activity  of  the 
motormen  into  laboratory  processes.    And  here 

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ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

I  may  include  a  remark  on  the  methodology  of 
psychological  industrial  experiments.  One  might 
naturally  think  that  the  experience  of  a  special 
industrial  undertaking  would  be  best  reproduced 
for  the  experiment  by  repeating  the  external  con- 
ditions in  a  kind  of  miniature  form.  That  would 
mean  that  we  ought  to  test  the  motormen  of  the 
electric  railway  by  experiments  with  small  toy 
models  of  electric  cars  placed  on  the  laboratory 
table.  But  this  would  be  decidedly  inappropri- 
ate. A  reduced  copy  of  an  external  apparatus  may 
arouse  ideas,  feelings,  and  volitions  which  have 
little  in  common  with  the  processes  of  actual  life. 
The  presupposition  would  be  that  the  man  to  be 
tested  for  any  industrial  achievement  would  have 
to  think  himself  into  the  miniature  situation, 
and  especially  uneducated  persons  are  often  very 
unsuccessful  in  such  efforts.  This  can  be  clearly 
seen  from  the  experiences  before  naval  courts, 
where  it  is  usual  to  demonstrate  collisions  of  ships 
by  small  ship  models  on  the  table  in  the  court- 
room. Experience  has  frequently  shown  that 
helmsmen,  who  have  found  their  course  a  life 
long  among  real  vessels  in  the  harbor  and  on  the 
sea,  become  entirely  confused  when  they  are  to 
demonstrate  by  the  models  the  relative  positions 
of  the  ships.  Even  in  the  naval  war  schools  where 
the  officers  play  at  war  with  small  model  ships, 

67 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

a  certain  inner  readjustment  is  always  necessary 
for  them  to  bring  the  miniature  ships  on  the  large 
table  into  the  tactical  game.  On  the  water,  for 
instance,  the  naval  officer  sees  the  far-distant 
ships  very  much  smaller  than  those  near  by, 
while  on  the  naval  game  table  all  the  ships  look 
equally  large.  On  the  whole,  I  feel  inclined  to 
say  from  my  experience  so  far  that  experiments 
with  small  models  of  the  actual  industrial  mechan- 
ism are  hardly  appropriate  for  investigations  in 
the  field  of  economic  psychology.  The  essential 
point  for  the  psychological  experiment  is  not  the 
external  similarity  of  the  apparatus,  but  exclus- 
ively the  inner  similarity  of  the  mental  attitude. 
The  more  the  external  mechanism  with  which 
or  on  which  the  action  is  carried  out  becomes 
schematized,  the  more  the  action  itself  will  ap- 
pear in  its  true  character. 

In  the  method  of  my  experiments  with  the 
motormen,  accordingly,  I  had  to  satisfy  only  two 
demands.  The  method  of  examination  promised 
to  be  valuable  if,  first,  it  showed  good  results  with 
reliable  motormen  and  bad  results  with  unrelia- 
ble ones;  and,  secondly,  if  it  vividly  aroused  in  all 
the  motormen  the  feeling  that  the  mental  function 
which  they  were  going  through  during  the  experi- 
ment had  the  greatest  possible  similarity  with 
their  experience  on  the  front  platform  of  the  elec- 

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ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

trie  car.  These  are  the  true  tests  of  a  desirable  ex- 
perimental method,  while  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  apparatus  be  similar  to  the  electric  car  or 
that  the  external  activities  in  the  experiment  be 
identical  with  their  performance  in  the  service. 
After  several  unsatisfactory  efforts,  in  which  I 
worked  with  too  complicated  instruments,  I 
finally  settled  on  the  following  arrangement  of 
the  experiment  which  seems  to  me  to  satisfy 
those  two  demands. 

The  street  is  represented  by  a  card  9  half- 
inches  broad  and  26  half-inches  long.  Two  heavy 
lines  half  an  inch  apart  go  lengthwise  through 
the  centre  of  the  card,  and  accordingly  a  space  of 
4  half-inches  remains  on  either  side.  The  whole 
card  is  divided  into  small  half-inch  squares 
which  we  consider  as  the  unit.  Thus  there  is  in 
any  cross-section  1  unit  between  the  two  central 
lines  and  4  units  on  either  side.  Lengthwise 
there  are  26  units.  The  26  squares  which  lie  be- 
tween the  two  heavy  central  lines  are  marked 
with  the  printed  letters  of  the  alphabet  from  A  to 
Z.  These  two  heavy  central  lines  are  to  repre- 
sent an  electric  railway  track  on  a  street.  On 
either  side  the  4  rows  of  squares  are  filled  in  an 
irregular  way  with  black  and  red  figures  of  the 
three  first  digits.  The  digit  1  always  represents 
a  pedestrian  who  moves  just  one  step,  and  that 

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THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

means  from  one  unit  into  the  next;  the  digit  2  a 
horse,  which  moves  twice  as  fast,  that  is,  which 
moves  2  units;  and  the  digit  3  an  automobile 
which  moves  three  times  as  fast,  that  is,  3  units. 
Moreover,  the  black  digits  stand  for  men,  horses, 
and  automobiles  which  move  parallel  to  the  track 
and  cannot  cross  the  track,  and  are  therefore  to 
be  disregarded  in  looking  out  for  dangers.  The 
red  digits,  on  the  other  hand,  are  the  dangerous 
ones.  They  move  from  either  side  toward  the 
track.  The  idea  is  that  the  man  to  be  experi- 
mented on  is  to  find  as  quickly  as  possible  those 
points  on  the  track  which  are  threatened  by  the 
red  figures,  that  is,  those  letters  in  the  26  track 
units  at  which  the  red  figures  would  land,  if  they 
make  the  steps  which  their  number  indicates.  A 
red  digit  3  which  is  4  steps  from  the  track  is  to  be 
disregarded,  because  it  would  not  reach  the 
track.  A  red  digit  3  which  is  only  1  or  2  steps 
from  the  track  is  also  to  be  disregarded,  because  it 
would  cross  beyond  the  track,  if  it  took  3  steps. 
But  a  red  3  which  is  3  units  from  the  track,  a 
red  2  which  is  2  units  from  the  track,  and  a  red 
1  which  is  1  unit  from  the  track  would  land  on 
the  track  itself;  and  the  aim  is  quickly  to  find 
these  points.  The  task  is  difficult,  as  the  many 
black  figures  divert  the  attention,  and  as  the  red 
figures  too  near  or  too  far  are  easily  confused 

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ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

with  those  which  are  just  at  the  dangerous  dis- 
tance. 

As  soon  as  this  principle  for  the  experiment  was 
recognized  as  satisfactory,  it  was  necessary  to 
find  a  technical  device  by  which  a  movement  over 
this  artificial  track  could  be  produced  in  such  a 
way  that  the  rapidity  could  be  controlled  by  the 
subject  of  the  experiment  and  at  the  same  time 
measured.  Again  we  had  to  try  various  forms  of 
apparatus.  Finally  we  found  the  following  form 
most  satisfactory.  Twelve  such  cards,  each  pro- 
vided with  a  handle,  lie  one  above  another  under 
a  glass  plate  through  which  the  upper  card  can 
be  seen.  If  this  highest  card  is  withdrawn,  the 
second  is  exposed,  and  from  below  springs  press 
the  remaining  cards  against  the  glass  plate.  The 
glass  plate  with  the  12  cards  below  lies  in  a  black 
wooden  box  and  is  completely  covered  by  a  belt 
8  inches  broad  made  of  heavy  black  velvet.  This 
velvet  belt  moves  over  two  cylinders  at  the  front 
and  the  rear  ends  of  the  apj^aratus.  In  the  centre 
of  the  belt  is  a  window  4|  inches  wide  and  2^ 
inches  high.  If  the  front  cylinder  is  turned  by  a 
metal  crank,  the  velvet  belt  passes  over  the  glass 
plate  and  the  little  window  opening  moves  over 
the  card  with  its  track  and  figures.  The  whole 
breadth  of  the  card,  with  its  central  track  and  its 
4  units  on  either  side,  is  visible  through  it  over 

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THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

an  area  of  5  units  in  the  length  direction.  If  the 
man  to  be  experimented  on  turns  the  crank  with 
his  right  hand,  the  window  shps  over  the  whole 
length  of  the  card,  one  part  of  the  card  after  an- 
other becomes  visible,  and  then  he  simply  has  to 
call  the  letters  of  those  units  in  the  track  at  which 
the  red  figures  on  either  side  would  land,  if  they 
took  the  number  of  steps  indicated  by  the  digit. 
At  the  moment  the  window  has  reached  Z  on  the 
card,  the  experimenter  withdraws  that  card  and 
the  next  becomes  visible,  as  a  second  window  in 
the  belt  appears  at  the  lower  end  when  the  first 
disappears  at  the  upper  end.  In  this  way  the  sub- 
ject can  turn  his  crank  uninterruptedly  until  he 
has  gone  through  the  12  cards.  The  experimenter 
notes  down  the  numbers  of  the  cards  and  the  letters 
which  the  subject  calls.  Besides  this,  the  number 
of  seconds  required  for  the  whole  experiment, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  first  card  to  the  end  of 
the  twelfth,  is  measured  with  a  stopwatch.  This 
time  is,  of  course,  dependent  upon  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  crank  is  turned.  The  result  of  the 
experiment  is  accordingly  expressed  by  three 
figures,  the  number  of  seconds,  the  number  of 
omissions,  that  is,  of  places  at  which  red  figures 
would  land  on  the  track  which  were  not  noticed 
by  the  subject;  and,  thirdly,  the  number  of  in- 
correct places  where  letters  were  called  in  spite 

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ELECTRIC   RAILWAY  SERVICE 

of  the  fact  that  no  danger  existed.  In  using  the 
results,  we  may  disregard  this  third  figure  and 
give  our  attention  to  the  speed  and  the  number  of 
omissions. 

The  necessary  condition  for  carrying  out  the  ex- 
periments with  this  apparatus  is  a  careful,  quiet, 
practical  explanation  of  the  device.  The  experi- 
ment must  not  under  any  circumstances  be  started 
until  the  subject  completely  understands  what  he 
has  to  do  and  for  what  he  has  to  look  out.  For 
this  purpose  I  at  first  always  show  the  man  one 
card  outside  of  the  apparatus  and  explain  to  him 
the  differences  between  the  black  and  the  red 
figures,  and  the  counting  of  the  steps,  and  show 
to  him  in  a  number  of  cases  how  some  red  figures 
do  not  reach  the  track,  how  others  go  beyond  the 
track,  and  how  some  just  land  in  danger  on  the 
track.  As  soon  as  he  has  completely  understood 
the  principle,  we  turn  to  the  apparatus  and  he 
moves  the  window  slowly  over  a  test  card  and 
tries  to  find  the  dangerous  spots,  and  I  turn  his 
attention  to  every  case  in  which  he  has  omitted 
one  or  has  given  an  incorrect  letter.  We  repeat 
this  slowly  until  he  completely  masters  the  rules 
of  the  game.  Only  then  is  he  allowed  to  start 
the  experiment.  I  have  never  found  a  man  with 
whom  this  preparation  takes  more  than  a  few 
minutes. 

73 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

After  developing  this  method  in  the  psycho- 
logical laboratory,  I  turned  to  the  study  of  men 
actually  in  the  service  of  a  great  electric  railway 
company  which  supported  my  endeavors  in  the 
most  cordial  spirit.  In  accordance  with  my  re- 
quest, the  company  furnished  me  with  a  number 
of  the  best  motormen  in  its  service,  men  who  for 
twenty  years  and  more  had  performed  their  du- 
ties practically  without  accidents,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  a  large  number  of  motormen  who 
had  only  just  escaped  dismissal  and  whose  record 
was  characterized  by  many  more  or  less  import- 
ant collisions  or  other  accidents.  Finally,  we  had 
men  whose  activity  as  motormen  was  neither 
especially  good  nor  especially  bad. 

The  test  of  the  method  lies  first  in  the  fact  that 
the  tried  motormen  agreed  that  they  really  pass 
through  the  experiment  with  the  feeling  which 
they  have  on  their  car.  The  necessity  of  looking 
out  in  both  directions,  right  and  left,  for  possible 
obstacles,  of  distinguishing  those  which  move 
toward  the  track  from  the  many  which  move 
along  the  track,  the  quick  discrimination  among 
the  various  rates  of  rapidity,  the  steady  forward 
movement  of  the  observation  point,  the  constant 
temptation  to  give  attention  to  those  which  are 
still  too  far  away  or  to  those  which  are  so  near 
that  they  will  cross  the  track  before  the  approach 

74 


ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

of  the  car,  in  short,  the  whole  complex  situation 
with  its  demands  on  attention,  imagination,  and 
quick  adjustment,  soon  brings  them  into  an  atti- 
tude which  they  themselves  feel  as  identical  with 
that  in  practical  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the  re- 
sults show  a  far-reaching  correspondence  between 
efficiency  in  the  experiment  and  efficiency  in  the 
actual  service.  With  a  relatively  small  number  of 
experiments  this  correspondence  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  be  complete,  the  more  as  a  large  number 
of  secondary  features  must  enter  which  interfere 
with  an  exact  correlation  between  experiment  and 
standing  in  the  railway  company.  We  must  con- 
sider, for  instance,  that  those  men  whom  the  com- 
pany naturally  selects  as  models  are  men  who 
have  had  twenty  to  thirty  years  of  service  with- 
out accidents,  but  consequently  they  are  rather 
old  men,  who  no  longer  have  the  elasticity  of 
youth  and  are  naturally  less  able  to  think  them- 
selves into  an  artificial  situation  like  that  of  such 
an  experiment,  and  who  have  been  for  a  long  time 
removed  from  contact  with  book  work.  It  is 
therefore  not  surprising,  but  only  to  be  expected, 
that  such  older,  model  men,  while  doing  fair  work 
in  the  test,  are  yet  not  seldom  far  surpassed  by 
bright,  quick,  young  motormen  who  are  twenty 
years  younger,  even  though  they  are  not  yet 
ideal  motormen.    Moreover,  the  standing  in  the 

75 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE   MAN 

company  often  depends  upon  features  which  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  mental  make-up  of  the 
man,  while  the  experiment  has  to  be  confined 
to  those  mental  conditions  which  favor  accidents. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  a  man  may  happen  to 
experience  a  slight  collision,  even  though  no  con- 
ditions for  the  accident  were  lying  in  his  mental 
make-up.  But  we  may  go  still  further.  The  ex- 
periment refers  to  those  sides  of  his  mind  which 
make  him  able  to  foresee  the  danger  points,  and 
that  is  decidedly  the  most  essential  factor  and 
the  one  from  which  most  can  be  hoped  for  the 
safety  of  the  public.  But  this  does  not  exclude  the 
possibility  that  some  other  mental  traits  may  be- 
come causes  of  accidents.  The  man  may  be  too 
daring  and  may  like  to  run  risks,  or  he  may  still 
need  discipline,  or  he  may  not  be  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  the  local  conditions.  Any  such 
secondary  factors  may  cause  some  slight  acci- 
dents with  the  man  w^ho  shows  rather  fair  results 
in  the  experimental  test  of  his  foresight.  Finally, 
we  must  not  forget  that  some  men  enter  into  such 
tests  under  a  certain  nervous  tension  and  there- 
fore may  not  show  so  well  at  the  very  first  test 
as  their  mental  equipment  should  allow.  Hence 
it  is  decidedly  desirable  not  to  rely  on  the  first 
test,  but  to  repeat  it.  If  those  various  interfer- 
ences are  taken  into  account,  the  correspondence 

76 


ELECTRIC   RAILWAY   SERVICE 

between  efficiency  and  the  results  of  the  tests  is 
fairly  satisfactory.  It  justified  me  in  proposing 
that  the  experiments  be  continued  and  in  regard- 
ing it  as  quite  possible  that  later  tests  on  the 
basis  of  this  principle  may  be  introduced  at  the 
employment  of  motormen. 

A  difficulty  is  presented  by  the  valuation  of  the 
numerical  results.  The  mere  number  of  omissions 
alone  cannot  be  decisive,  as  it  is  clear  that  no  in- 
telligent man  would  make  any  omissions  if  he 
should  give  an  unlimited  amount  of  time  to  it; 
for  instance,  if  he  were  to  spend  fifteen  minutes 
on  those  12  cards.  But  this  is  the  same  thing 
as  to  say  that  a  motorman  would  not  run  over 
any  one  if  he  were  to  drive  his  car  one  mile  in  an 
hour.  The  practical  problem  is  to  combine  the 
greatest  possible  speed  with  the  smallest  number 
of  oversights,  and  both  factors  must  therefore 
be  considered.  The  subject  who  makes  relatively 
many  mistakes  but  uses  a  very  short  time  must 
be  acknowledged  to  be  as  good  as  the  man  who 
makes  fewer  mistakes  but  takes  a  longer  time. 
In  the  results  which  I  have  gathered  in  experi- 
ments with  motormen,  no  one  has  gone  through 
those  12  cards  in  a  shorter  time  than  140  seconds, 
while  the  longest  time  was  427  seconds.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  one  of  the  motormen  made  less 
than  4  omissions,  while  the  worst  ones  made  28 

77 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

omissions.  I  abstract  from  one  extreme  case  with 
36  omissions.  On  the  whole,  we  may  say  that  the 
time  fluctuates  between  180  and  420,  the  mis- 
takes between  4  and  28.  The  aim  is  to  find  a  for- 
mula which  gives  full  value  to  both  factors  and 
makes  the  material  directly  comparable  in  the  form 
of  one  numerical  value  instead  of  the  two.  If  we 
were  simply  to  add  the  number  of  seconds  and  the 
number  of  omissions,  the  omissions  would  count 
far  too  little,  inasmuch  as  10  additional  omissions 
would  then  mean  no  more  than  10  additional 
seconds.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  were  to  multi- 
ply the  two  figures  the  omissions  would  mean  by 
far  too  much,  as  the  transition  from  4  mistakes  to 
8  mistakes  would  then  be  as  great  a  change  as  the 
transition  from  200  to  400  seconds,  that  is,  from 
the  one  extreme  of  time  to  the  other.  Evidently 
we  balance  both  factors  if  we  multiply  the  number 
of  omissions  by  10  and  add  them  to  the  number 
of  seconds.  The  variations  between  4  and  28 
omissions  are  24  steps,  which  multiplied  by  10 
correspond  to  the  240  steps  which  lie  between 
180  and  420  seconds.  On  that  basis  any  additional 
50  seconds  would  be  equal  to  5  additional  omis- 
sions. If  of  two  men  one  takes  100  seconds  less 
than  his  neighbor,  he  is  equal  to  him  in  his  ability 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  service,  if  he  makes 
10  mistakes  more. 

78 


ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

On  the  basis  of  this  calculation  I  find  that  the 
old,  well-trained  motormen  come  to  a  result  of 
about  450,  and  I  should  consider  that  an  average 
standard.  This  would  mean  that  a  man  who 
uses  400  seconds  would  not  be  allowed  to  make 
more  than  5  omissions,  in  350  seconds  not  more 
than  10,  in  300  not  more  than  15,  in  250  not  more 
than  20,  under  the  condition  that  these  are  the 
results  of  the  first  set  of  experiments.  Where 
there  are  more  than  20  omissions  made,  mere 
quickness  ought  not  to  be  allowed  as  a  substitute. 
The  man  who  takes  150  seconds  and  makes  30 
mistakes  would  come  up  to  the  same  standard 
level  of  450.  Yet  his  characteristics  would  prob- 
ably not  serve  the  interests  of  the  service.  He 
would  speed  up  his  car  and  would  make  better 
time  than  any  one  else,  but  would  be  liable  to  ac- 
cidents. I  should  consider  20  mistakes  with  a 
time  not  longer  than  250  as  the  permissible  maxi- 
mum. Among  the  younger  motormen  whom  I 
examined,  the  best  result  was  290,  in  which  270 
seconds  were  used  and  only  2  omissions  made. 
Results  below  350  may  be  considered  as  very 
good.  One  man,  for  instance,  carried  out  the  ex- 
periment in  237  seconds  with  11  mistakes,  which 
gives  the  result  347.  From  350  to  450  may  be 
counted  as  fair,  450  to  550  as  mediocre,  and  over 
550  as  very  poor.  In  the  case  of  old  men,  who  may 

79 


THE   BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

be  expected  to  adjust  themselves  less  easily  to 
artificial  experiments,  the  limits  may  be  shifted. 
If  the  experiments  are  made  repeatedly,  the  valua- 
tion of  the  results  must  be  changed  accordingly. 
The  training  of  the  men  in  literary  and  mathe- 
matical work  or  in  experimentation  may  be  con- 
sidered, as  our  experiments  have  shown  that  highly 
educated  young  people  with  long  training  in 
experimental  observations  can  pass  through  the 
test  much  more  quickly  than  any  one  of  the  motor- 
men  could.  Among  the  most  advanced  graduate 
students  who  do  research  work  in  my  Harvard 
laboratory  there  was  no  one  whose  result  was 
more  than  275,  while,  as  I  said,  among  all  the 
motormen  there  was  no  one  whose  result  was  less 
than  290.  The  best  result  reached  was  by  a  stu- 
dent who  passed  through  the  test  in  223  seconds 
with  only  1  mistake,  the  total  therefore  being  233. 
Next  came  a  student  who  did  it  in  215  seconds 
with  3  mistakes,  total,  245;  then  in  228  seconds 
with  2  omissions,  total,  248,  and  so  on. 

I  recapitulate:  With  men  on  the  educational 
level  and  at  the  age  that  comes  in  question  for 
their  first  appointment  in  the  service  of  an  elec- 
tric railway  company,  the  test  proposed  ought  to 
be  applied  according  to  this  scheme.  If  they  make 
more  than  20  mistakes,  they  ought  to  be  excluded; 
if  they  make  less  then  20  mistakes,  the  number  of 

80 


ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  SERVICE 

omissions  is  to  be  multiplied  by  10  and  added  to 
the  number  of  seconds.  If  the  sum  is  less  than 
350,  their  mental  fitness  for  the  avoidance  of  ac- 
cidents is  very  high,  between  350  and  450  fair, 
and  more  than  550  not  acceptable  under  any 
conditions.  I  submit  this,  however,  with  the  em- 
phasis on  my  previous  statement  that  the  investi- 
gation is  still  in  its  first  stage,  and  that  it  will  need 
a  long  cooperation  between  science  and  industry 
in  order  to  determine  the  desirable  modifications 
and  special  conditions  which  may  become  neces- 
sary in  making  the  employment  of  men  partly  de- 
pendent upon  such  psychological  tests.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  experiments  could  be 
improved  in  many  directions.  But  even  in  this 
first,  not  adequately  tested,  form,  an  experimen- 
tal investigation  of  this  kind  which  demands  from 
each  individual  hardly  10  minutes  would  be  suf- 
ficient to  exclude  perhaps  one  fourth  of  those  who 
are  nowadays  accepted  into  the  service  as  motor- 
men.  This  25  per  cent  of  the  applicants  do  not 
deserve  any  blame.  In  many  other  occupations 
they  might  render  excellent  service;  they  are 
neither  careless  nor  reckless,  and  they  do  not  act 
against  instructions,  but  their  psychical  mechan- 
ism makes  them  unfit  for  that  particular  combina- 
tion of  attention  and  imagination  which  ought  to 
be  demanded  for  the  special  task  of  the  motor- 

81 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

man.  If  the  many  thousands  of  injury  and  the 
many  hundreds  of  death  cases  could  be  reduced 
by  such  a  test  at  least  to  a  half,  then  the  condi- 
tions of  transportation  would  have  been  improved 
more  than  by  any  alterations  in  the  technical 
apparatus,  which  usually  are  the  only  objects 
of  interest  in  the  discussion  of  specialists.  The 
whole  world  of  industry  will  have  to  learn  the 
great  lesson,  that  of  the  three  great  factors,  ma- 
terial, machine,  and  man,  the  man  is  not  the  least, 
but  the  most  important. 


IX 

EXPERIMENTS    IN    THE    INTEREST    OF 
SHIP    SERVICE 

WHERE  the  avoidance  of  accidents  is  in 
question,  the  test  of  a  special  experimental 
method  can  seldom  be  made  dependent  upon  a 
comparison  with  practical  results,  as  we  do  not 
want  to  wait  until  the  candidate  has  brought  hu- 
man life  into  danger.  The  ordinary  way  of  reach- 
ing the  goal  must  therefore  be  an  indirect  one  in 
such  cases.  For  the  study  of  motormen  the  con- 
ditions are  exceptionally  favorable,  as  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  accidents  occur  every  year,  but  an- 
other practical  example  may  be  chosen  from  a  field 
where  it  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  correlate  the  re- 
sults with  actual  misfortunes,  because  the  danger- 
ous situations  occur  seldom;  and  nevertheless  on 
account  of  their  importance  they  demand  most 
serious  study.  I  refer  to  the  ship  service,  where 
the  oflBcer  on  the  bridge  may  bring  thousands 
into  danger  by  one  single  slip  of  his  mind.  I  turn 
to  this  as  a  further  concrete  illustration  in  order 
to  characterize  at  once  the  lengths  to  which  such 
vocational  studies  may  advance. 

One  of   the  largest   ship    companies  had  ap- 

83 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

proached  me  —  long  before  the  disaster  of  the 
Titanic  occurred  —  with  the  question  whether  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  find  psychological  meth- 
ods for  the  elimination  of  such  ship  officers  as 
would  not  be  able  to  face  an  unexpected  suddenly 
occurring  complication.  The  director  of  the  com- 
pany wrote  to  me  that  in  his  experience  the  real 
danger  for  the  great  ships  lies  in  the  mental  dis- 
positions of  the  officers.  They  all  know  exactly 
what  is  to  be  done  in  every  situation,  but  there 
are  too  many  who  do  not  react  in  the  appropriate 
way  when  an  unexpected  combination  of  factors 
suddenly  confronts  them,  such  as  the  quick  ap- 
proach of  a  ship  in  the  fog.  He  claimed  that  two 
different  types  ought  to  be  excluded.  There  are 
ship  officers  who  know  the  requirements  excel- 
lently, but  who  are  almost  paralyzed  when  the 
dangerous  conditions  suddenly  threaten.  Their 
ability  for  action  is  inhibited.  In  one  moment 
they  want  to  act  under  the  stimulus  of  one  impres- 
sion, but  before  the  impulse  is  realized,  some  other 
perhaps  rather  indifferent  impression  forces  itself 
on  their  minds  and  suggests  the  counteraction, 
and  in  this  way  they  vacillate  and  remain  inactive 
until  it  is  too  late  to  give  the  right  order  or  to 
press  the  right  button.  The  other  type  feels  only 
the  necessity  for  rapid  action,  and  under  the  pres- 
sure of  greatest  haste,  without  clear  thought,  they 

84 


SHIP   SERVICE 

jump  to  the  first  decision  which  rushes  to  their 
minds.  Without  carefully  considering  the  condi- 
tions really  given,  they  explode  in  an  action  which 
they  would  never  have  chosen  in  a  state  of  quiet 
deliberation.  They  react  on  any  accidental  cir- 
cumstance, just  as  at  a  fire  men  sometimes  carry 
out  and  save  the  most  useless  parts  of  their  belong- 
ings. Of  course,  beside  these  two  types,  there  is 
the  third  type,  the  desirable  one,  the  men  who  in 
the  unexpected  situation  quickly  review  the  total- 
ity of  the  factors  in  their  relative  importance  and 
with  almost  instinctive  certainty  immediately 
come  to  the  same  decision  to  which  they  would 
have  arrived  after  quiet  thought.  The  director 
of  the  company  insisted  that  it  would  be  of  high- 
est importance  for  the  ship  service  to  discriminate 
these  three  types  of  human  beings,  and  to  make 
sure  that  there  stand  on  the  bridge  of  the  ship 
only  men  who  do  not  belong  to  those  two  danger- 
ous classes.  He  turned  to  me  with  this  request, 
as  he  had  heard  of  the  work  toward  economic 
psychology  in  the  Harvard  laboratory. 

As  the  problem  interested  me,  I  carried  on  a 
long  series  of  experiments  in  order  to  construct 
artificial  conditions  under  which  the  mental  pro- 
cess of  decision  in  a  complicated  situation,  espe- 
cially the  rapidity,  correctness,  and  constancy  of 
the  decision,  could  be  made  measurable.  I  started 

85 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

from  the  conviction  that  this  complex  act  of  de- 
cision must  stand  in  definite  relation  to  a  number 
of  simpler  mental  functions.  If,  for  instance,  it 
stood  in  a  clear  definite  relation  to  the  process  of 
association,  or  discrimination,  or  suggestibility, 
or  perception,  or  memory,  and  so  on,  it  would  be 
rather  easy  to  foresee  the  behavior  of  the  individ- 
ual in  the  act  of  decision,  as  every  one  of  those 
other  simple  mental  functions  could  be  tested  by 
routine  methods  of  the  psychological  laboratory. 
This  consideration  led  me  to  propose  ramified 
investigations  concerning  the  psychology  of  de- 
cision in  its  relation  to  the  elementary  mental  pro- 
cesses. These  studies  by  students  of  the  labora- 
tory are  not  yet  completed.  But  I  soon  saw  that 
they  would  be  unfit  for  the  solution  of  my  prac- 
tical problem,  as  we  recognized  that  these  rela- 
tions between  the  complex  act  of  decision  and  the 
elementary  functions  of  the  individual  seem  to 
have  different  form  with  different  types  of  men.^^ 
If  I  was  to  approach  the  solution  of  the  prac- 
tical problem,  accordingly,  I  had  to  reproduce 
in  an  experimental  form  the  act  of  decision  under 
complex  conditions. 

It  seemed  necessary  to  create  a  situation  in 
which  a  number  of  quantitatively  measurable  fac- 
tors were  combined  without  any  one  of  them  forc- 
ing itself  to  consciousness  as  the  most  important. 

86 


SHIP  SERVICE 

The  subject  to  be  experimented  on  then  has  to  de- 
cide as  quickly  as  possible  which  of  the  factors  is 
the  relatively  strongest  one.  As  usual,  here,  too, 
I  began  with  rather  complicated  material  and 
only  slowly  did  I  simplify  the  apparatus  until  it 
finally  took  an  entirely  inconspicuous  form.  But 
this  is  surely  the  most  desirable  outcome  for  test- 
ing methods  which  are  to  be  applied  to  large  num- 
bers of  persons.  Complicated  instruments,  for  the 
handling  of  which  special  training  is  needed,  are 
never  so  useful  for  practical  purposes  as  the  sim- 
ple schemes  which  can  be  easily  applied.  The 
form  of  which  I  finally  made  use  is  the  following.  I 
work  with  24  cards  of  the  size  of  playing-cards. 
On  the  upper  half  of  every  one  of  these  cards  we 
have  4  rows  of  12  capital  letters,  namely.  A,  E, 
O,  and  U  in  irregular  repetition.  On  4  cards,  one  of 
these  vowels  appears  21  times  and  each  of  the 
three  others  9  times;  on  8  cards,  one  appears  18 
times  and  every  one  of  the  three  others  10  times; 
on  8  cards,  one  appears  15  times  and  each  of  the 
others  11  times;  and  finally,  on  4  cards  one  vowel 
appears  16  times,  each  of  the  three  others  8  times, 
and  besides  them  8  different  consonants  are  mixed 
in.  The  person  to  be  tested  has  to  distribute  these 
24  cards  as  quickly  as  possible  in  4  piles,  in  such  a 
way  that  in  the  first  pile  are  placed  all  cards  in 
which  the  letter  A  is  most  frequent,  in  the  second 

87 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

those  in  which  the  letter  E  predominates,  and  so 
on.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  result  must  never 
be  secured  by  counting  the  letters.  Any  attempt 
to  act  against  this  prescription  and  secretly  to  be- 
gin counting  would  moreover  delay  the  decision 
so  long  that  the  final  result  would  be  an  unsatis- 
factory achievement  anyhow.  It  would  accord- 
ingly bring  no  advantage  to  the  candidate. 

We  measure  with  a  stopwatch  in  fifths  of  a 
second  the  time  for  the  whole  process  from  the 
subject's  looking  at  the  first  card  to  his  laying 
down  of  the  last  card,  and,  secondly,  we  record 
the  number  and  the  character  of  his  mistakes,  if 
cards  are  put  into  wrong  piles.  I  have  made  the 
experiment  with  very  many  persons,  and  results 
show  that  those  various  mental  traits  which  have 
been  observed  in  the  practical  ship  service  come 
clearly  to  light  under  the  conditions  of  this  experi- 
ment. Some  of  the  persons  lose  their  heads  en- 
tirely, and  for  many  of  them  it  is  a  painful  activ- 
ity for  which  they  require  a  long  time.  Even  if  the 
number  of  mistakes  is  not  considerable,  they 
themselves  have  the  feeling  that  they  are  not 
coming  to  a  satisfactory  decision,  because  their 
attention  is  pulled  hither  and  thither  so  that  they 
feel  an  inner  mental  paralysis.  Some  chance  let- 
ters stand  out  and  appear  to  them  to  be  predom- 
inant, but  in  the  next  moment  the  attention  is 

88 


SHIP  SERVICE 

captured  by  some  other  letters  which  bring  the 
suggestion  that  they  are  in  the  majority  and  that 
they  present  the  most  important  factor.  The  out- 
come is  that  inner  state  of  indecision  which  can 
become  so  fatal  in  practical  life.  Other  subjects 
distribute  the  cards  in  piles  at  a  relatively  high 
speed,  and  they  do  it  with  the  subjective  feeling 
that  they  have  indeed  recognized  at  the  first 
glance  the  predominant  group  of  letters.  The  ex- 
act measurement  of  the  results,  however,  shows 
that  they  commit  many  errors  which  would  have 
been  improbable  after  quiet  consideration.  Any 
small  group  of  letters  which  catches  their  eye 
makes  on  them,  under  the  pressure  of  their  haste, 
such  a  strong  impression  that  all  the  other  letters 
are  inhibited  for  the  moment  and  the  wrong  de- 
cision is  quickly  made.  Finally,  we  find  a  group 
of  persons  who  carry  out  the  experiment  rather 
quickly  and  at  the  same  time  with  few  mistakes. 
It  is  characteristic  of  them  to  pass  through  it  with 
the  feeling  that  it  is  an  agreeable  and  stimulating 
mental  activity.  In  all  cases  the  subjects  feel 
themselves  under  the  unified  impression  which  re- 
sults from  all  those  48  letters  of  the  card  together; 
and  this  is  the  reason  why  the  qualitative  mani- 
foldness  of  a  practical  life  situation  can  be  com- 
pared with  these  intermingled,  quantitatively 
determined  groups  of  letters. 

89 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

If  I  consider  the  general  results  of  these  experi- 
ments only  with  reference  to  the  time-measure- 
ment, I  should  say  that  a  person  who  completes 
the  distribution  of  the  cards  in  less  than  80  seconds 
is  quick  in  his  decisions;  from  80  to  150,  moder- 
ately quick;  from  150  to  250,  slow  and  deliberate 
and  rather  too  deliberate  for  situations  which  de- 
mand quick  action;  over  250  seconds,  he  would  be- 
long among  those  wavering  persons  who  hesitate 
too  long  in  a  life  situation  which  demands  deci- 
sion. The  time  which  is  needed  for  the  mere  distri- 
bution of  the  cards  themselves  plays  a  very  small 
role  compared  with  the  time  of  the  whole  pro- 
cess, and  can  be  neglected.  In  order  to  determine 
this,  I  asked  all  the  subjects  before  they  made 
the  real  experiment  to  distribute  24  other  cards  in 
4  piles,  on  each  of  which  one  of  the  four  letters, 
A,  E,  O,  and  U  was  printed  only  once.  Hence  no 
comparison  of  various  factors  was  involved  in 
this  form  of  distribution.  The  average  time  for 
this  ordinary  sorting  was  about  20  seconds.  Only 
rather  quick  individuals  carried  it  out  in  less  than 
18  and  only  very  slow  ones  needed  more  than  25 
seconds.  This  maximum  variation  of  10  seconds 
is  evidently  insignificant,  as  the  variations  in 
the  experiment  amount  to  more  than  200  seconds. 
But  it  is  very  characteristic  that  the  results  of 
the  two  experiments  do  not  move  parallel.   Some 

90 


SHIP  SERVICE 

persons,  who  are  able  to  sort  the  cards  on  which 
only  one  of  the  4  letters  is  printed  very  quickly, 
are  rather  slow  when  they  sort  the  cards  with  the 
48  letters  for  which  the  essential  factor  is  the  act 
of  comparison.  In  the  first  case  the  training  in 
card-playing  also  seems  to  have  a  certain  influ- 
ence, but  in  the  second  case,  our  real  experiment 
on  decision,  this  influence  does  not  seem  to  exist. 
We  have  emphasized  from  the  start  that  it  is 
no  less  important  to  give  consideration  to  the 
number  of  mistakes.  A  mere  rapidity  of  distribu- 
tion with  many  mistakes  characterizes,  as  we  saw, 
a  mental  system  which  is  just  as  unfit  for  practi- 
cal purposes  as  one  which  acts  with  too  great  slow- 
ness. But  it  would  not  have  been  sufficient  simply 
to  ask  how  many  cards  were  put  into  wrong  piles. 
The  special  arrangement  of  the  cards  with  four 
different  types  of  combinations  was  introduced 
for  the  purpose  of  discriminating  among  mistakes 
of  unequal  seriousness.  When  one  letter  appeared 
21  times  and  the  three  others  only  9  times,  it  was 
surely  much  easier  to  make  the  decision  than 
when  the  predominant  letter  appeared  only  15 
times  and  the  other  three  each  11  times.  The 
easier  the  right  decision,  the  graver  the  mistake. 
Of  course  the  valuation  of  these  mistakes  must  be 
rather  arbitrary.  We  decided  to  value  as  4  every 
mistake  in  these  cards  on  which  the  predominant 

91 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

letter  appears  21  times;  as  3,  a  mistake  in  the 
18  letter  cards;  as  2,  a  mistake  in  the  16  letter 
cards;  and  as  1,  a  mistake  in  the  most  difficult 
ones,  the  15  letter  cards.  If  the  mistakes  are  cal- 
culated on  this  basis  and  are  added  together,  a  sum 
below  5  may  indicate  a  very  safe  and  perfectly  re- 
liable ability  for  decision;  5  to  12,  satisfactory; 
12  to  20,  uncertain;  and  over  20,  very  poor.  In 
order  to  take  account  of  both  factors,  time  and 
mistakes,  we  multiply  the  sum  of  the  calculated 
mistakes  by  the  number  of  seconds.  If  the  pro- 
duct of  these  two  figures  is  less  than  400,  it  may 
be  taken  as  a  sign  of  perfect  reliability  in  making 
very  quick,  correct  decisions,  in  complex  life  situ- 
ations; 400  to  1000  indicates  the  limits  between 
which  the  ability  for  such  decisions  may  be  con- 
sidered as  normal  and  very  satisfactory;  1000  to 
2000,  not  good  but  still  adequate;  2000  to  3000, 
unreliable,  and  over  3000,  practically  absent. 
It  is  clear  that  the  real  proof  of  the  value  of  this 
method  cannot  be  offered.  This  is  just  the  reason 
why  we  selected  this  illustration  as  an  example  of 
the  particular  difficulty.  Wrong  decisions,  that  is, 
cases  in  which  the  man  on  the  bridge  waits  too 
long  before  he  makes  his  decision  and  thus  causes 
a  collision  of  ships  by  his  delay,  or  in  which  he 
rushes  blindly  to  a  decision  which  he  himself  would 
have  condemned   after  quiet    deliberation,   are 

92 


SHIP  SERVICE 

rare.  It  would  be  impossible  to  group  such  men 
together  for  the  purpose  of  the  experiment  and 
to  compare  their  results  with  those  of  model  cap- 
tains, the  more  as  experience  has  shown  that  an 
officer  may  have  a  stainless  record  for  many  years 
and  yet  may  finally  make  a  wrong  decision  which 
shows  his  faulty  disposition.  The  test  of  the 
method  must  therefore  be  a  somewhat  indirect 
one.  My  aim  was  to  compare  the  results  of  the 
experiments  with  the  experiences  of  the  various 
individuals  which  they  themselves  reported  con- 
cerning their  decisions  in  unexpected  complicated 
situations,  and  moreover  with  the  judgments  of 
their  friends  whom  I  asked  to  describe  what  they 
would  expect  from  the  subjects  under  such  condi- 
tions. The  personal  differences  in  these  respects 
are  extremely  great,  and  are  also  evident  in  the 
midst  of  small  groups  of  persons  who  may  have 
great  similarity  in  their  education  and  training 
and  in  many  other  aspects  of  their  lives. 

Among  the  most  advanced  students  of  my  re- 
search laboratory,  for  instance,  all  of  whom  have 
rather  similar  schooling  and  practically  the  same 
training  in  experimental  work,  the  product  of  mis- 
takes and  seconds  varied  between  348  and  13,335. 
That  smallest  value  occurred  in  a  case  in  which 
the  time  was  116  seconds  and  the  sum  of  the  mis- 
takes only  3,  inasmuch  as  3  cards  of  the  most  dif- 

93 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

ficult  group  where  the  predominating  letter  oc- 
curred only  15  times  were  put  in  the  wrong  piles. 
The  shortest  time  among  my  laboratory  students 
was  58  seconds,  but  with  this  individual  the  sum 
of  the  mistakes,  calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  val- 
uation agreed  upon,  was  13.  The  largest  figure 
mentioned  resulted  in  a  case  in  which  the  student 
needed  381  seconds  and  yet  made  mistakes  the 
sum  of  which  amounted  to  35.  It  is  characteristic 
that  the  person  with  the  smallest  product  felt  a 
distinct  joy  in  the  experiment,  while  the  one  with 
the  largest  passed  through  painful  minutes  which 
put  him  to  real  organic  discomfort.  If  we  arrange 
the  men  simply  in  the  order  of  these  products,  of 
course  we  cannot  recognize  the  various  groups,  as 
those  who  are  quick  but  make  mistakes  and  those 
who  make  few  mistakes  but  act  slowly  may  be  rep- 
resented by  the  same  products.  The  coincidence 
of  the  results  with  the  self-characterization  is  fre- 
quently quite  surprising.  Every  one  has  at  some 
time  come  into  unexpected,  suddenly  arising  situ- 
ations and  many  have  received  in  such  moments 
a  very  vivid  impression  of  their  own  mental  reac- 
tion. They  know  quite  well  that  they  could  not 
come  to  a  decision  quickly  enough,  or  that  they 
rushed  hastily  to  a  wrong  decision,  or  that  in  just 
such  instants  a  feeling  of  repose  and  security 
came  over  them  and  that  with  sure  instinct  they 

94 


SHIP   SERVICE 

turned  in  the  direction  which  they  would  have 
chosen  after  mature  thought.  The  results  of  the 
experiments  in  sorting  the  cards  confirmed  this 
self-observation  in  such  frequent  cases  that  it 
may  indeed  be  hoped  that  a  more  extended  test 
of  this  method  will  prove  its  practical  usefulness. 
It  is  clear  that  the  field  is  a  wide  one,  as  these  dif- 
ferent types  of  mental  dispositions  must  be  of  con- 
sequence not  only  in  the  ship  service,  but  also  to  a 
certain  degree  in  the  railroad  service  and  in  many 
other  industrial  tasks. 

We  have  emphasized  from  the  start  that  as  a 
matter  of  course  such  a  tested  function,  while  it  is 
taken  in  its  complex  unity,  is  nevertheless  not  the 
only  psychophysical  disposition  of  significance. 
This  is  as  true  for  the  ship  officer  as  it  was  for  the 
motorman  of  the  electric  car.  If  we  were  to  study 
all  the  mental  dispositions  necessary  or  desirable 
for  the  ship  officer,  we  should  find  many  other 
qualities  which  are  accessible  to  the  psycholog- 
ical investigation.  The  captain  of  the  ship,  for 
instance,  is  expected  to  recognize  the  direction  of 
a  vessel  passing  in  the  fog  by  the  signals  of  the 
foghorn.  But  so  far  no  one  has  given  any  atten- 
tion to  the  psychological  conditions  of  localization 
of  sound,  which  were  for  a  long  while  a  much- 
studied  problem  of  our  psychological  laboratories. 
We  know  how  this  localization  is  dependent  upon 

95 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

the  comparison  of  the  two  ears  and  what  particu- 
lar mistakes  occur  from  the  different  sensibiHty 
of  the  two  ears.  Yet  there  are  to-day  men  on  the 
bridges  of  the  ships  who  hear  much  better  with 
one  ear  than  with  the  other,  but  who  still  naively 
believe  that,  as  they  hear  everything  very  dis- 
tinctly with  one  ear,  this  normal  ear  is  also  suffi- 
cient for  recognizing  the  direction  of  the  sound. 
It  is  the  same  mistake  which  we  frequently  see 
among  laborers  whose  vision  has  become  defect- 
ive in  one  of  their  eyes,  or  one  of  whose  eyes  is 
temporarily  bandaged.  They  are  convinced  that 
the  one  good  eye  is  sufficient  for  their  industrial 
task,  because  they  are  able  to  recognize  every- 
thing clearly  and  distinctly.  They  do  not  know 
that  both  the  eyes  together  are  necessary  in  order 
to  produce  that  psychological  combination  by 
which  the  visual  impression  is  projected  into  the 
right  distance,  and  that  in  the  factory  they  are 
always  in  danger  of  underestimating  the  distance 
of  a  wheel  or  some  other  part  of  the  machine  and 
of  letting  the  hand  slip  between  the  wheels  or 
knives.  The  results  of  experimental  psychology 
will  have  to  be  introduced  systematically  into  the 
study  of  the  fitness  of  the  personality  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  technical  activity  and  from 
the  simplest  sensory  function  to  the  most  complex 
mental  achievement. 


X 

EXPERIMENTS  IN    THE   INTEREST    OF 
TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

OUR  plan  was  to  illustrate  the  possibility 
of  applying  psychological  experiments  to 
the  selection  of  fit  applicants  also  in  cases  in  which 
not  one  characteristic  mental  function  stands  out, 
but  in  which  a  large  number  of  relatively  inde- 
pendent mental  activities  are  in  play.  I  choose  as 
an  illustration  of  such  cases  the  work  of  the  em- 
ployees at  the  telephone  switchboard.  A  study 
of  the  psychological  factors  in  this  work  is  strongly 
suggested  by  the  practical  interests  of  the  tele- 
phone companies,  and  may  be  looked  on  here  ex- 
clusively from  this  point  of  view.  The  user  of  the 
telephone  is  little  inclined  to  consider  how  many 
actions  have  to  be  carried  out  in  the  central  office 
before  the  connection  is  made  and  finally  broken 
again.  From  the  moment  when  the  speaker  takes 
off  the  receiver  to  the  cutting  off  of  the  connec- 
tion, fourteen  separate  psychophysical  processes 
are  necessary  in  the  typical  case,  and  even  then 
it  is  presupposed  that  the  telephone  girl  under- 
stood the  exchange  and  number  correctly.  It  is  a 
common  experience  of  the  companies  that  these 

97 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

demands  cannot  be  satisfactorily  fulfilled  when  a 
telephone  girl  has  to  handle  more  than  225  calls 
in  an  hour.  The  official  statistics  show  that  this 
figure  is  exceeded  in  not  infrequent  cases/^  in 
extreme  cases  the  number  may  even  rise  beyond 
300.  Moreover,  in  short  periods  of  reinforced  de- 
mands it  may  happen  that  for  a  few  minutes  even 
the  rapidity  of  10  calls  in  a  minute  is  reached. 
Normally  the  burden  is  divided  among  the  em- 
ployees in  such  a  way  that  about  150  calls  fall  to 
each  one  in  an  hour,  and  that  this  figure  is  passed 
considerably  only  in  one  morning  and  one  evening 
hour.  A  skillful  distribution  of  pauses  and  ample 
arrangements  for  rest,  usually  together  with  very 
excellent  hygienic  conditions,  make  it  possible 
for  the  fit  persons  to  be  able  to  carry  on  this  work 
without  over-fatigue  from  8  to  9  hours  a  day.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  only  natural  that  such  rapid 
and  yet  subtle  activity  under  such  high  tension, 
where  especially  the  quick  localization  of  the  cor- 
rect hole  is  a  difficult  and  yet  indispensable  part, 
can  be  carried  out  only  by  a  relatively  small  num- 
ber of  human  nervous  systems.  The  inability  to 
keep  attention  at  such  a  high  point  for  a  long 
while,  or  to  perform  such  rapid  movements,  or  to 
retain  the  numbers  correctly,  does  not  lead  to  fatal 
accidents  like  those  in  the  case  of  the  unfit  mo- 
tormen,  but  it  does  lead  to  fatigue  and  finally  to 

98 


TELEPHONE   SERVICE 

a  nervous  breakdown  of  the  employees  and  to  con- 
fusion in  the  service.  The  result  is  that  the  com- 
pany is  continually  obliged  to  dismiss  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  those  who  have  entered  the 
service  and  who  have  spent  some  months  in  going 
through  the  training  school  of  the  company.  As 
one  single  company,  the  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany, employs  16,000  operators,  the  problem  is  an 
expansive  one,  and  it  has  bearing  on  the  health  of 
the  employees  as  well  as  on  the  patience  of  the 
subscribers.  But  above  all  it  refers  to  the  eco- 
nomic interests  of  the  company,  inasmuch  as 
every  girl  who  satisfies  the  entrance  conditions 
of  hearing  and  sight,  of  school  education  and 
general  personal  appearance,  receives  some  salary 
throughout  the  months  of  training  in  the  tele- 
phone school.  Since  during  the  first  half-year, 
in  which  the  employee  still  works  entirely  under 
supervision,  more  than  a  third  of  those  who  had 
originally  entered  leave,  partly  on  account  of  un- 
fitness and  inability,  partly  on  account  of  over- 
fatigue or  similar  reasons,  the  economic  disadvan- 
tage to  the  company  is  evidently  a  very  great  one. 
The  candidates  are  paid  for  months  of  mere  train- 
ing, and  they  themselves  waste  their  energy  and 
time  with  practice  in  a  kind  of  labor  which  cannot 
be  serviceable  to  them  in  any  other  economic 
activity.   Under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  sur- 

99 


THE   BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

prising  that  one  city  system  approached  me  with 
the  question  whether  it  would  not  interest  me 
from  a  scientific  point  of  view  to  examine  how  far 
the  mental  fitness  of  the  employees  could  be  de- 
termined beforehand  through  experimental  means. 
After  carefully  observing  the  service  in  the  cen- 
tral oflSce  for  a  while,  I  came  to  the  conviction 
that  it  would  not  be  appropriate  here  to  repro- 
duce the  activity  at  the  switchboard  in  the  experi- 
ment, but  that  it  would  be  more  desirable  to  re- 
solve that  whole  function  into  its  elements  and  to 
undertake  the  experimental  test  of  a  whole  series 
of  elementary  mental  dispositions.  Every  one 
of  these  mental  acts  can  then  be  examined  accord- 
ing to  well-known  laboratory  methods  without 
giving  to  the  experiments  any  direct  relation  to 
the  characteristic  telephone  operation  as  such. 
I  carried  on  the  first  series  of  experiments  with 
about  thirty  young  women  who  a  short  time  be- 
fore had  entered  into  the  telephone  training 
school,  where  they  are  admitted  only  at  the  age 
between  seventeen  and  twenty-three  years.  I 
examined  them  with  reference  to  eight  different 
psychophysical  functions.  In  saying  this,  I  ab- 
stract from  all  those  measurements  and  tests  which 
had  somewhat  anthropometric  character,  such 
as  the  measurement  of  the  length  of  the  fingers, 
the  rapidity  of  breathing,  the  rapidity  of  pulse, 

100 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

the  acuity  of  vision  and  of  hearing,  the  distinct- 
ness of  the  pronunciation,  and  so  on.  A  part  of 
the  psychological  tests  were  carried  on  in  individ- 
ual examinations,  but  the  greater  part  with  the 
whole  class  together. 

These  common  tests  referred  to  memory,  at- 
tention, intelligence,  exactitude,  and  rapidity.  I 
may  characterize  the  experiments  in  a  few  words. 
The  memory  examination  consisted  of  reading  to 
the  whole  class  at  first  two  numbers  of  4  digits, 
then  two  of  5  digits,  then  two  of  6  digits,  and  so 
on  up  to  figures  of  12  digits,  and  demanding  that 
they  be  written  down  as  soon  as  a  signal  was  given. 
The  experiments  on  attention,  which  in  this  case 
of  the  telephone  operators  seemed  to  me  espe- 
cially significant,  made  use  of  a  method  the  prin- 
ciple of  which  has  frequently  been  applied  in  the 
experimental  psychologj^  of  individual  differences 
and  which  I  adjusted  to  our  special  needs.  The 
requirement  is  to  cross  out  a  particular  letter  in  a 
connected  text.  Every  one  of  the  thirty  women 
in  the  classroom  received  the  same  first  page  of  a 
newspaper  of  that  morning.  I  emphasize  that  it 
was  a  new  paper,  as  the  newness  of  the  content  was 
to  secure  the  desired  distraction  of  the  attention. 
As  soon  as  the  signal  was  given,  each  one  of  the 
girls  had  to  cross  out  with  a  pencil  every  **a"  in 
the  text  for  six  minutes.    After  a  certain  time,  a 

101 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

bell  signal  was  given  and  each  then  had  to  begin 
a  new  column.  In  this  way  we  could  find  out, 
first,  how  many  letters  were  correctly  crossed  out 
in  those  six  minutes,  secondly,  how  many  letters 
were  overlooked,  and,  thirdly,  how  the  recogni- 
tion and  the  oversight  were  distributed  in  the 
various  parts  of  the  text.  In  every  one  of  these 
three  directions  strong  individual  differences 
were  indeed  noticeable.  Some  persons  crossed  out 
many,  but  also  overlooked  many,  others  over- 
looked hardly  any  of  the  "a's,"  but  proceeded 
very  slowly  so  that  the  total  number  of  the 
crossed-out  letters  was  small.  Moreover,  it  was 
found  that  some  at  first  do  poor  work,  but  soon 
reach  a  point  at  which  their  attention  remains  on 
a  high  level;  others  begin  with  a  relatively  high 
achievement,  but  after  a  short  time  their  atten- 
tion flags,  and  the  number  of  crossed-out  letters 
becomes  smaller  or  the  number  of  unnoticed, 
overlooked  letters  increases.  Fluctuations  of  at- 
tention, deficiencies,  and  strong  points  can  be 
discovered  in  much  detail. 

The  third  test  which  was  tried  with  the  whole 
class  referred  to  the  intelligence  of  the  individuals. 
Discussion  of  the  question  how  to  test  intelligence 
in  general  would  quickly  lead  us  into  as  yet  unset- 
tled controversies.  It  is  a  chapter  of  the  psycho- 
logy of  tests  which,  especially  in  the  service  of 

102 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

pedagogy  but  to  a  certain  degree  also  in  the  serv- 
ice of  medicine,  has  been  more  carefully  elabor- 
ated than  any  other.  Often  it  has  been  contested 
whether  we  have  any  right  to  speak  of  one  gen- 
eral central  intelligence  factor,  and  whether  this 
apparently  unified  activity  ought  not  to  be  re- 
solved into  a  series  of  mere  elementary  processes. 
The  newer  pedagogical  investigations,  however, 
speak  in  favor  of  the  view  that  besides  all  special 
processes,  or  rather,  above  all  of  them,  an  ability 
must  be  recognized  which  cannot  be  divided  any 
further,  and  by  which  the  individual  adjusts  his 
knowledge,  his  experiences,  and  his  dispositions 
to  the  changing  purposes  of  life.  The  grading  of 
the  pupils  in  a  class  usually  expresses  this  differ- 
entiation of  the  intelligence;  and  while  the  differ- 
ences of  industry  or  of  mere  memory  and  similar 
secondary  features  may  sometimes  interfere,  it 
remains  after  all  not  difficult  for  an  observant 
teacher  to  grade  the  pupils  of  his  class,  whom  he 
knows  well,  according  to  their  general  intelligence. 
The  psychological  experiments  carried  on  in  the 
schoolroom  have  demonstrated  that  this  ability 
can  be  tested  by  the  measurement  of  some  very 
simple  mental  activities.  The  best  method  would 
be  the  one  which  would  allow  the  experimenter, 
on  the  basis  of  a  single  experiment,  to  grade 
the  individuals  in  the  same  order  in  which  they 

103 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

appear  in  the  record  of  the  teacher.  Among 
the  various  proposed  schemes  for  this  purpose 
the  figures  suggest  that  the  most  rehable  one  is  the 
following  method,  the  results  of  which  show  the 
highest  agreement  between  the  rank  order  based 
on  the  experiments  and  the  rank  order  of  the 
teachers. ^^  The  experiment  consists  in  reading 
to  the  pupils  a  long  series  of  pairs  of  words  of 
which  the  two  members  of  the  pair  always  logic- 
ally belong  together.  Later,  one  word  of  each 
pair  will  be  read  to  them  and  they  have  to  write 
down  the  word  which  belonged  with  it  in  the  pair. 
This  is  not  a  simple  experiment  on  memory.  The 
tests  have  shown  that  if  instead  of  logically  con- 
nected words  simply  disconnected  chance  words 
are  offered  and  reproduced,  no  one  can  keep  such 
a  long  series  of  pairs  in  mind,  while  with  the  words 
which  have  related  meaning,  the  most  intelligent 
pupils  can  master  the  whole  series.  The  very  fav- 
orable results  which  this  method  had  yielded  in 
the  classroom  made  me  decide  to  try  it  in  this  case 
too.  I  chose  for  an  experiment  24  pairs  of  words 
from  the  sphere  of  experience  of  the  girls  to  be 
tested.  Two  further  class  experiments  belonged 
rather  to  the  periphery  of  psychology.  The 
exactitude  of  space-perception  was  measured  by 
demanding  that  each  divide  first  the  long  and 
then  the  short  edge  of  a  folio  sheet  into  two  equal 

104 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

halves  by  a  pencil  mark.  And  finally,  to  measure 
the  rapidity  of  movement,  it  was  demanded  that 
every  one  make  with  a  pencil  on  the  paper  zigzag 
movements  of  a  particular  size  during  the  ten 
seconds  from  one  signal  to  another. 

After  these  class  experiments  I  turned  to  indi- 
vidual tests.  First,  every  girl  had  to  sort  a  pack 
of  48  cards  into  4  piles  as  quickly  as  possible.  The 
time  was  measured  in  fifths  of  a  second.  The  fol- 
lowing experiment  which  referred  to  the  accuracy 
of  movement  impulses  demanded  that  every  one 
try  to  reach  with  the  point  of  a  pencil  3  different 
points  on  the  table  in  the  rhythm  of  metronome 
beats.  On  each  of  these  three  places  a  sheet  of 
paper  was  fixed  with  a  fine  cross  in  the  middle. 
The  pencil  should  hit  the  crossing  point,  and  the 
marks  on  the  paper  indicated  how  far  the  move- 
ment had  fallen  short  of  the  goal.  One  of  these 
movements  demanded  the  full  extension  of  the 
arm  and  the  other  two  had  to  be  made  with  half- 
bent  arm.  I  introduced  this  last  test  because  the 
hitting  of  the  right  holes  in  the  switchboard  of  the 
telephone  office  is  of  great  importance.  The  last 
individual  experiment  was  an  association  test. 
I  called  six  words  like  "book,"  "house,"  "rain," 
and  had  them  speak  the  first  word  which  came  to 
their  minds.  The  time  was  measured  in  fifths  of  a 
second  only,  as  subtler  experiments,  for  which 

105 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

hundredths  of  a  second  would  have  to  be  con- 
sidered, were  not  needed. 

In  studying  the  results  so  far  as  the  memory 
experiments  were  concerned,  we  found  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  consider  the  figures  with  more 
than  10  digits.  We  took  the  results  only  of  those 
with  8, 9,  and  10  digits.  There  were  54  possibilities 
of  mistakes.  The  smallest  number  of  actual  mis- 
takes was  2,  the  largest,  29.  In  the  experiment  on 
attention  made  with  the  crossing-out  of  letters, 
we  found  that  the  smallest  number  of  correctly 
marked  letters  was  107,  the  largest  number  in  the 
six  minutes,  272;  the  smallest  number  of  over- 
looked letters  was  2,  the  largest,  135;  but  this  last 
case  of  abnormal  carelessness  stood  quite  isolated. 
On  the  whole,  the  number  of  overlooked  letters 
fluctuated  between  5  and  60.  If  both  results, 
those  of  the  crossed-out  and  those  of  the  over- 
looked letters,  are  brought  into  relation,  we  find 
that  the  best  results  were  a  case  of  236  letters 
marked,  with  only  2  overlooked,  and  one  of  257 
marked,  with  4  overlooked.  The  very  interesting 
details  as  to  the  various  types  of  attention  which 
we  see  in  the  distribution  of  mistakes  over  the  six 
minutes  were  not  taken  into  our  final  table.  The 
word  experiments  by  which  we  tested  the  intelli- 
gence showed  that  no  one  was  able  to  reproduce 
more  than  22  of  the  24  words.  The  smallest  num- 

106 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

ber  of  words  remembered  was  7.  The  mistakes 
in  the  perception  of  distances  fluctuated  between 
1  and  14  milhmeters;  the  time  for  the  sorting  of 
the  48  cards,  between  35  and  58  seconds ;  the  as- 
sociation-time for  the  6  associated  words  taken 
together  was  between  9  and  21  seconds.  The 
pointing  experiments  could  not  be  made  use  of  in 
this  first  series,  as  it  was  found  that  quite  a  num- 
ber of  participants  were  unable  to  perform  the  act 
with  the  rapidity  demanded. 

Several  ways  were  open  to  make  mathematical 
use  of  these  results.  I  preferred  the  simplest  way. 
I  calculated  the  grade  of  the  girls  for  each  of  these 
achievements.  The  same  candidate  who  stood  in 
the  7th  place  in  the  memory  experiment  was  in  the 
15th  place  with  reference  to  the  number  of  letters 
marked,  in  the  3rd  place  with  reference  to  the  let- 
ters overlooked,  in  the  21st  place  with  reference  to 
the  number  of  word  pairs  which  she  had  grasped, 
in  the  11th  place  with  reference  to  the  exactitude 
of  space-perception,  in  the  16th  place  with  refer- 
ence to  the  association-time,  and  in  the  6th  place 
with  reference  to  the  time  of  sorting.  As  soon  as 
we  had  all  these  independent  grades,we  calculated 
the  average  and  in  this  way  ultimately  gained  a 
common  order  of  grading.  It  is  evident  that  this 
kind  of  calculation  contains  accidental  factors, 
especially  as  a  consequence  of  the  fact  that  we 

107 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

give  equal  value  to  every  one  of  these  results.  It 
might  be  better,  for  instance,  to  attribute  a  higher 
value  to  the  attention  experiment  or  to  the  intel- 
ligence experiment.  This  could  be  done  by  mul- 
tiplying the  results  of  some  of  these  grades  by  2 
or  by  3,  which  would  bring  the  high  or  low  grade 
of  a  girl  for  a  particular  function  to  stronger 
influence  in  the  final  result.  But  in  this  first  trial 
I  contented  myself  with  the  simplest  uniform 
scheme  in  order  to  exclude  all  arbitrariness,  and 
therefore  considered  the  mere  average  of  all  the 
grades  as  the  expression  of  the  experimental 
result. 

With  this  average  rank  list,  we  compared  the 
practical  results  of  the  telephone  company  after 
three  months  had  passed.  These  three  months 
had  been  sufl&cient  to  secure  at  least  a  certain  dis- 
crimination between  the  best,  the  average,  and  the 
unfit.  The  result  of  this  comparison  was  on  the 
whole  satisfactory.  First,  the  skeptical  telephone 
company  had  mixed  with  the  class  a  number  of 
women  who  had  been  in  the  service  for  a  long 
while  and  had  even  been  selected  as  teachers  in 
the  telephone  school.  I  did  not  know,  in  figuring 
out  the  results,  which  of  the  participants  in  the  ex- 
periments these  particularly  gifted  outsiders  were. 
If  the  psychological  experiments  had  brought  the 
result  that  these  individuals  who  stood  so  high 

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TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

in  the  estimation  of  the  telephone  company 
ranked  low  in  the  laboratory  experiment,  it  would 
have  reflected  strongly  on  the  reliability  of  the 
laboratory  method.  The  results  showed,  on  the 
contrary,  that  these  women  who  had  proved  most 
able  in  practical  service  stood  at  the  top  of  our 
list.  Correspondingly,  those  who  stood  the  low- 
est in  our  psychological  rank  list  had  in  the  mean 
time  been  found  unfit  in  practical  service  and 
had  either  left  the  company  of  their  own  accord  or 
else  had  been  eliminated.  The  agreement,  to  be 
sure,  was  not  a  perfect  one.  One  of  the  list  of 
women  stood  rather  low  in  the  psychological  list, 
while  the  ofiice  reported  that  so  far  she  had  done 
fair  work  in  the  service,  and  two  others  to  whom 
the  psychological  laboratory  gave  a  good  testi- 
monial were  considered  by  the  telephone  office  as 
only  fair. 

But  it  is  evident  that  certain  disagreements 
would  have  occurred  even  with  a  more  ideal 
method,  as  on  the  one  side  no  final  achievement 
in  practical  service  can  be  given  after  only  three 
months,  and  because  on  the  other  side  a  large 
number  of  secondary  factors  may  enter  which 
entirely  overshadow  the  mere  question  of  psycho- 
physical fitness.  Poor  health,  for  instance,  may 
hinder  even  the  most  fit  individual  from  doing 
satisfactory  work,  and  extreme  industry  and  ener- 

109 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

getic  will  may  for  a  while  lead  even  the  unfit  to 
fair  achievement,  which,  to  be  sure,  is  likely  to 
be  coupled  with  a  dangerous  exhaustion.  The 
slight  disagreements  between  the  psychological 
results  and  the  practical  valuation,  therefore,  do 
not  in  the  least  speak  against  the  significance  of 
such  a  method.  On  the  other  hand,  I  emphasize 
that  this  first  series  meant  only  the  beginning  of 
the  investigation,  and  it  can  hardly  be  expected 
that  at  such  a  first  approach  the  best  and  most 
suitable  methods  would  at  once  be  hit  upon.  A 
continuation  of  the  work  will  surely  lead  to  much 
better  combinations  of  test  experiments  and  to 
better  adjusted  schemes.  But  it  would  be  most 
desirable  that  such  studies  be  undertaken  at 
various  places  according  to  various  schemes  in 
order  to  come  nearer  to  the  solution  of  a  problem 
which  is  economically  important  to  the  whole 
public  and  to  many  thousands  of  employees.  As 
soon  as  methods  are  really  perfected  it  would 
seem  not  at  all  impossible  that  by  a  short  ex- 
periment of  a  few  minutes  thousands  of  appli- 
cants might  be  saved  long  months  of  study  and 
training  which  are  completely  wasted.  For  us 
here  the  detailed  analysis  of  this  particular  case 
did  not  mean  a  suggestion  to  use  to-day  in  the  tel- 
ephone offices  of  the  country  the  special  scheme 
which  we  applied,  but  it  stood  only  as  a  clear, 

110 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

simple  illustration  of  a  method  by  which  not  the 
specific  work  itself  is  tested,  but  by  which  the  in- 
dustrial work  of  the  individual  is  resolved  into 
a  long  series  of  parallel  functions  each  one  of 
which  is  tested  independently.  The  experimental 
aid  which  the  laboratory  has  to  supply  in  such 
cases  is  not  a  newly  invented  device,  such  as  we 
needed  in  the  case  of  the  motormen,  but  simply 
the  methods  well  known  as  so-called  mental 
tests. 

The  experiments  with  such  tests  by  which 
single  mental  functions  are  measured  approxi- 
mately in  short  quick  examinations,  has  been 
much  discussed  in  psychological  circles.  For  a 
long  while  the  thorough  scholars  remained  very 
reluctant  to  accept  such  an  apparently  superficial 
scheme,  when  these  tests  were  proposed  especially 
for  the  pedagogical  interests  of  the  schoolroom. 
It  was  a  time  in  which  the  scientific  efforts  were 
completely  devoted  to  the  general  problems  of  the 
human  mind  and  in  which  individual  differences 
were  very  little  considered.  Moreover,  the  ques- 
tions of  applied  psychology  still  seemed  so  far 
distant  that  the  true  scholar  instinctively  took 
his  standards  from  the  methods  of  purely  theo- 
retical research.  Seen  from  such  a  point  of  view,  it 
could  not  be  denied  that  the  tests  were  not  suflS- 
cient  to  give  us  a  complete  scientific  analysis  of 

111 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

the  personality  in  its  subtler  structure.  The  theo- 
rists knew  too  well  that  if  the  reactions,  or  asso- 
ciations, or  memories,  or  tendencies  of  attention, 
or  emotions  of  a  subject  were  measured  really  with 
that  scientific  thoroughness  which  is  the  ideal 
of  research,  long  months  of  experiments  would 
be  needed,  and  little  could  be  hoped  for  from 
tests  to  be  performed  in  half  an  hour.  But  this 
somewhat  haughty  reserve  which  was  quite  justi- 
fied twenty  years  ago  has  become  obsolete  and 
would  be  meaningless  to-day.  On  the  one  side 
the  methods  themselves  have  been  multiplied; 
for  each  mental  act  like  memory,  attention,  and 
so  on,  dozens  of  well-studied  tests  are  at  our  dis- 
posal, which  are  adjusted  to  the  finest  ramifica- 
tions of  the  f unctions. ^^  On  the  other  side  the 
interest  in  individual  differences  and  in  applied 
psychology  has  steadily  grown,  and  through  it 
an  understanding  for  the  real  meaning  of  the  tests 
has  been  gained.  Their  value,  indeed,  lies  exclus- 
ively in  their  relation  to  the  practical  problems. 
Where  theoretical  questions  are  to  be  answered 
and  scientific  studies  concerning  the  laws  and 
variations  of  the  mind  are  to  be  undertaken,  the 
long  series  of  laboratory  experiments  carried  on 
with  patience  and  devotion  are  indispensable 
and  can  never  be  replaced  by  the  short-cut  meth- 
ods of  the  tests.     But  where  practical  tasks  of 

112 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

pedagogy  or  jurisprudence  or  medicine,  or  es- 
pecially of  commerce  and  industry,  are  before  us, 
the  method  of  tests  ought  to  be  sovereign.  It  can 
be  adapted  to  the  special  situations  and  can  suc- 
ceed perfectly,  if  the  task  is  to  discover  the  out- 
lines of  the  mental  individuality  for  particular 
practical  work. 

The  only  real  difficulty  of  the  method  lies  in  the 
ease  with  which  it  can  be  used.  A  device  which 
presupposes  complicated  instruments  deters  the 
layman  and  will  be  used  only  by  those  who  are 
well  trained.  Moreover,  the  amateur  would  not 
think  of  constructing  and  adapting  such  appara- 
tus himself.  But  when  nothing  is  necessary  but  to 
use  words  or  numbers  or  syllables  or  pictures,  or, 
as  in  those  experiments  which  we  just  described, 
newspapers  and  so  on,  any  one  feels  justified  in 
applying  the  scheme  or  in  replacing  it  by  a  new 
apparently  better  one  according  to  his  caprice. 
The  manif oldness  of  the  proposed  tests  for  special 
functions  is  therefore  enormous  to-day.  What  is 
needed  now  is  surely  much  more  that  order  be 
brought  into  this  chaos  of  propositions,  and  that 
definite  norms  and  standards  be  secured  for  cer- 
tain chief  examinations,  than  that  the  number  of 
variations  simply  be  increased. 

The  chief  danger,  moreover,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
those  who  are  not  accustomed  to  psychological 

113 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

laboratory  research  are  easily  misled.  They  fancy 
that  such  an  experiment  can  be  carried  out  in  a 
mere  mechanical  way  without  careful  study  of  all 
the  conditions  and  accompanying  circumstances. 
Thereby  a  certain  crudeness  of  procedure  may 
enter  which  is  not  at  all  suggested  by  the  test 
method  itself.  The  psychological  layman  too 
seldom  recognizes  how  many  other  psychical 
functions  may  play  a  role  in  the  result  of  the  ex- 
periment beside  the  one  which  is  interesting  him 
at  that  moment.  The  well-schooled  laboratory 
worker  almost  automatically  gives  consideration 
to  all  such  secondary  circumstances.  While  his 
experiments  may  refer  to  the  process  of  memory, 
he  will  yet  at  the  same  time  carefully  consider  the 
particular  situation  as  to  the  emotional  setting 
of  the  subject,  as  to  his  attention,  as  to  his  pre- 
ceding experience,  as  to  his  intelligence,  as  to  his 
physiological  condition,  and  many  other  factors 
which  may  have  indirect  influence  even  on  the 
simplest  memory  test.  Hence  the  real  perform- 
ance of  the  experiments  ought  to  be  undertaken 
only  by  those  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  and 
well  trained  in  psychological  research.  And  they 
alone,  moreover,  can  decide  what  particular  form 
such  an  experiment  ought  to  take  in  a  given  prac- 
tical situation.  It  must  be  left  to  them,  for  in- 
stance, to  judge  in  which  cases  the  mental  func- 

114 


TELEPHONE  SERVICE 

tion  of  economic  importance  ought  to  be  tested 
after  being  resolved  into  its  components  and  in 
which  it  ought  to  be  examined  in  its  characteris- 
tic unity. 


XI 

CONTRIBUTIONS   FROM   MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

WHILE  the  psychologists  have  to  perform 
the  actual  labor,  the  representatives  of 
practical  life  are  much  better  able  to  indicate  the 
points  at  which  the  psychological  levers  ought 
to  be  applied.  In  the  past  year  I  have  sought 
contact  with  several  hundred  large  concerns  in 
America  which  belong  to  many  different  indus- 
trial realms.  My  time  did  not  allow  me  personal 
observation  in  so  many  cases,  but  everywhere  I 
begged  for  information  from  the  leading  men.  I 
asked  in  individual  letters  for  the  particular  psy- 
chological qualities  which  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  tnanagement  seemed  essential  for  the  va- 
rious kinds  of  labor  in  their  establishments.  I 
always  inquired  to  what  extent  consideration  was 
given  to  such  psychological  points  of  view  at  the 
appointment  of  applicants,  and  asked  for  material 
concerning  the  question  how  far  individuals  who 
proved  to  be  unfit  for  one  kind  of  labor  showed 
fitness  at  other  kinds  of  work.  The  replies  which 
I  received  from  all  sides  varied  from  a  few  mean- 
ingless lines  to  long  documents,  which  in  some 
cases  were  composed  of  detailed  reports  from  all 
the  department  chiefs  of  a  particular  concern. 

116 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

The  common  fundamental  turn  was  decidedly 
a  feeling  of  strong  interest  in  the  formulation  of 
the  question,  which  was  practically  new  to  all  of 
them.  Whether  the  answer  came  from  paper  mills 
or  machine  shops,  from  meat-packing  houses  or 
from  breweries,  from  electrical  or  chemical  mills, 
from  railroad  or  mining  companies,  from  depart- 
ment stores  or  from  publishing  houses,  every- 
where it  was  acknowledged  that  they  had  given 
hardly  any  conscious  attention  to  the  real  psy- 
chological dispositions  of  their  employees.  They 
had  of  course  noticed  whether  their  men  were 
industrious  or  lazy,  honest  or  dishonest,  skillful 
or  clumsy,  peaceful  or  quarrelsome  people,  but 
I  had  emphasized  from  the  start  in  all  my  letters 
that  such  points  of  view  were  not  before  my  mind. 
The  mental  qualities  for  which  I  asked  were  the 
psychological  functions  of  attention,  memory, 
ideas,  imagination,  feeling,  volition,  suggestibil- 
ity, ability  to  learn,  ability  to  discriminate,  judg- 
ment, space-sense,  time-sense,  and  so  on.  It 
would  lead  too  far  here  to  discuss  why  these  two 
groups  of  characteristics  indeed  belong  to  two 
different  aspects  of  mental  life,  and  why  only  the 
latter  is  strictly  psychological.  The  way  in  which 
the  management  is  accustomed  to  look  on  their 
men  is  the  practical  way  of  ordinary  life,  in  which 
we  try  to  understand  our  neighbor  by  entering 

117 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

into  the  meaning  of  his  mental  functions  and  by 
seeking  to  grasp  what  his  aim  is.  But  such  an  in- 
terpretation of  the  other  man's  mind  is  not  a 
psychological  analysis.  It  gives  us  the  purposes  of 
his  inner  life,  but  does  not  show  us  its  structure 
and  its  component  parts.  We  can  abstract  from 
interpreting  and  appreciating  in  order  to  describe 
the  elements  of  the  mind  which  in  themselves  have 
no  meaning  and  no  value,  but  which  are  the  only 
important  factors,  if  we  are  to  determine  psycho- 
logically what  we  may  expect  from  the  individual. 
While  the  replies  to  my  letters  showed  that 
hardly  any  attention  had  so  far  been  given  to  such 
problems  of  objective  psychology  in  the  industrial 
concerns,  it  became  evident  that  the  managers 
felt  distinctly  that  here  a  problem  was  touched 
which  must  be  of  highest  importance  for  economic 
success.  From  many  different  sides  willingness 
was  shown  to  study  the  problem  of  employment 
under  the  psychological  aspect.  As  my  material 
came  mostly  from  very  large  establishments  in 
which  labor  of  very  many  different  kinds  is  car- 
ried on  side  by  side,  of  course  I  frequently  re- 
ceived the  assurance  that  whenever  an  indus- 
trious energetic  man  is  unsuccessful  in  one  kind 
of  work,  a  trial  is  made  with  him  in  another  de- 
partment, and  that  by  such  shifting  the  right 
place  can  often  be  found  for  him.  Young  people, 

118 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

to  whom,  in  spite  of  long  trial  and  the  best  will, 
it  seems  impossible  to  supply  certain  automatic 
machines,  become  excellent  workers  at  much  more 
diflScult  labor  in  the  same  establishment.  Women 
who  are  apparently  careless  and  inattentive  when 
they  have  to  distribute  their  attention  over  a 
number  of  operations  do  high-class  work  when 
they  are  engaged  in  a  single  activity;  and  in  other 
cases  the  opposite  is  reported. 

I  may  mention  a  few  concrete  chance  illustra- 
tions. In  a  pencil  factory  the  women  in  one  de- 
partment have  to  grasp  with  one  movement  a 
dozen  pencils,  no  more  and  no  less.  Some  learn 
this  at  once  without  effort,  and  they  earn  high 
wages;  others  never  can  learn  it  in  spite  of  re- 
peated trials.  If  those  who  fail  in  this  depart- 
ment are  transferred,  for  instance,  to  the  depart- 
ment where  the  gold-leaf  is  most  carefully  to  be 
applied  to  the  pencils  before  stamping,  very  often 
they  show  great  fitness  in  spite  of  the  extreme 
exactitude  needed  for  this  work.  To  show  how 
often  activities  which  appear  extremely  similar 
may  demand  different  individuals,  if  the  work  is 
based  on  different  psychical  functions,  I  may  re- 
fer to  a  report  from  one  of  the  largest  establish- 
ments in  the  country.  In  the  accounting  depart- 
ment a  large  number  of  girls  are  occupied  with 
looking  over  hundreds  of  thousands  of  slips  from 

119 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

which  the  weekly  pay-Hst  is  compiled.  Each  slip 
contains  six  figures  and  small  groups  of  twenty 
slips  have  to  be  looked  through  to  see  whether 
those  six  figures  on  each  correspond.  With  moist- 
ened forefinger  they  turn  up  the  slips  one  by  one 
in  much  the  same  manner  that  a  bank  clerk  counts 
money.  A  good  sorter  will  turn  up  the  slips  so 
rapidly  that  a  bystander  is  unable  to  read  a  single 
figure,  and  yet  she  will  not  overlook  an  error  in 
thousands  of  slips.  After  the  slips  are  sorted,  the 
operation  of  obtaining  the  totals  on  each  order 
number  is  performed  with  the  aid  of  an  adding 
machine.  The  machine  operator  rolls  up  the  slips 
of  the  pile  with  the  thumb  of  her  left  hand  and 
transfers  the  amount  to  the  proper  keys  of  the 
machine.  It  has  been  found  that  the  most  rapid 
and  accurate  girls  at  sorting  are  not  seldom  use- 
less on  the  machines.  They  press  the  wrong  keys 
and  make  errors  in  copying  the  total  from  the  ma- 
chine indicators  to  the  file-card.  On  the  other 
hand,  some  of  the  best  machine  operators  are  very 
slow  and  inaccurate  at  the  sorting  table.  Girls 
have  been  found  very  poor  at  the  work  at  which 
they  were  first  set,  and  very  successful  and  eflB- 
cient  as  soon  as  they  had  been  transferred  from 
the  one  to  the  other. 

Examples  of  this  kind  might  be  heaped   up 
without  end.    But  while  the  very  large  establish- 

120 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

ments  demonstrate  by  such  reports  only  that 
they  can  find  somewhere  a  fit  place  for  every  able 
workingman  if  they  take  enough  trouble  to  seek 
for  it,  after  all  the  essential  element  of  the  reports 
remains,  that  successful  achievement  depends 
upon  personal  mental  traits  which  cannot  be  ac- 
quired by  mere  good  will  and  training.  In  view 
of  this  fact  it  is  much  more  important  that  by  far 
the  majority  of  establishments  have  not  such  a 
great  manifoldness  of  activities  under  one  roof. 
The  workingman  who  is  a  failure  in  the  work 
which  he  undertook  would  usually  have  no  op- 
portunity to  show  his  strong  sides  in  the  same 
factory,  or  at  least  to  be  protected  against  the 
consequences  of  his  weak  points.  If  his  achieve- 
ment is  deficient  in  quality  or  quantity,  he  gen- 
erally loses  his  place  and  makes  a  new  trial  in 
another  factory  under  the  same  accidental  con- 
ditions, without  any  deeper  insight  into  his 
particular  psychical  traits  and  their  relation  to 
special  industrial  activities.  But  even  in  the  large 
concerns;  in  which  many  kinds  of  labor  are  needed 
side  by  side,  it  is  not  the  rule  but  a  rare  exception 
when  the  individual  is  systematically  shifted  to 
the  psychologically  correct  place.  A  whole  com- 
bination of  conditions  is  necessary  for  that.  If 
his  mental  unfitness  makes  him  unsuccessful  in 
one  place,  the  position  for  which  he  is  fit  must 

121 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

happen  to  be  vacant.  Moreover,  he  himself  must 
hke  that  other  kind  of  work,  and  above  all  the 
foreman  must  recognize  his  particular  fitness. 
In  a  few  model  factories  in  which  the  apprentice 
system  is  developed  in  the  spirit  of  advanced 
sociological  ideas,  for  instance,  in  the  Lynn  fac- 
tory of  the  General  Electric  Company,  such  sys- 
tematic efforts  are  being  carried  on  and  show  fair 
results.  But  the  regulation  plan  seems  to  be  a 
haphazard  lack  of  plan,  and  even  the  best  en- 
deavors probably  fall  short  of  what  may  be  at- 
tained by  the  introduction  of  scientific  psycho- 
logical methods.  So  far  in  most  factories  the 
laborer  who  is  not  doing  well  simply  loses  his 
position,  and  by  such  an  unfortunate  experience 
he  is  not  mentally  enriched  but  impoverished,  as 
he  has  lost  much  of  his  self-confidence  and  of  his 
joy  in  labor. 

If  this  limitless  waste  of  human  material,  this 
pitiable  crushing  of  joy  in  the  day's  work,  and 
this  crippling  of  the  economic  output  is  at  last 
to  be  reduced,  indeed  nothing  is  more  needed 
than  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  various  psychophy- 
sical functions  involved  in  the  work.  A  mere 
classification  of  the  industrial  occupations  accord- 
ing to  the  classes  of  manufactured  objects  would 
be  of  no  value  for  this  need,  as  often  a  small  in- 
dustrial concern  may  embrace  occupations  which 

122 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

are  based  on  many  different  psychophysical  func- 
tions. A  harvester  consists  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  different  parts,  and  almost  every  one  of  these 
parts  demands  a  long  series  of  manufacturing  pro- 
cesses. Thousands  of  different  kinds  of  labor  are 
thus  combined  in  one  factory  and  each  process 
demands  for  the  best  work  particular  psycho- 
physical traits,  even  though  many  of  them  can  be 
carried  out  by  quite  unskilled  laborers.  In  a  large 
manufacturing  establishment  the  manager  as- 
sured me  only  recently  that  more  than  half  a  mil- 
lion different  acts  have  to  be  performed  in  order 
to  complete  the  goods  of  that  factory.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  evidently  is  proper  to  form  larger 
groups  in  which  processes  are  brought  together 
which  are  similar  with  reference  to  the  mental 
activity  needed,  while  they  may  be  dissimilar 
from  the  standpoint  of  industrial  technique. 

This  analysis  of  the  special  processes  can  be 
furthered  best  by  the  cooperation  of  the  experi- 
enced men  of  industry.  Many  of  the  replies 
which  I  received  contained  quite  elaborated  con- 
tributions to  such  a  study  of  various  industrial 
processes  from  a  psychological  point  of  view. 
They  sometimes  covered  the  ground  from  the  sim- 
plest activity  to  the  subtlest  and  most  difficult 
economic  tasks,  and  this,  not  only  with  reference 
to  the  functions  of  the  laborer,  but  also  even  with 

123 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

reference  to  the  function  of  the  industrial  man- 
ager. The  outsider  can  see  these  psychological 
requirements  of  the  particular  occupation  only  in 
crude  outlines.  The  subtler  nuances  of  differences 
between  tasks  can  be  gained  only  by  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  industry.  Again  I  may  give  an 
illustration.  In  the  case  of  a  well-known  type- 
setting machine,  thousands  of  which  are  in  daily 
use,  I  had  the  impression  that  the  rapidity  of 
the  performance  was  dependent  upon  the  quick- 
ness of  the  finger  reaction.  The  managers,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  found  that  the  most  es- 
sential condition  for  speed  in  the  whole  work 
is  the  ability  to  retain  a  large  number  of  words 
in  memory  before  they  are  set.  The  man  who 
presses  the  keys  rather  slowly  advances  more 
rapidly  than  another  who  moves  his  fingers 
quickly,  but  must  make  many  pauses  in  order  to 
find  his  place  in  the  manuscript  and  to  provide 
himself  with  new  words. 

The  factors  which  are  to  be  brought  into  corre- 
lation are,  accordingly,  first,  the  actual  experi- 
ences of  the  managers,  secondly,  the  observations 
of  skilled  psychologists  in  the  industrial  concerns, 
thirdly,  psychological  and  experimental  investiga- 
tions with  successful  and  unsuccessful  laborers, 
and,  fourthly,  experimental  studies  of  the  normal 
variability.   If  such  a  programme  is  to  be  realized 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

in  detail,  it  will  be  necessary  to  discriminate  care- 
fully between  those  mental  traits  of  the  personal- 
ity which  must  be  accredited  to  a  lasting  inherited 
disposition  and  such  as  have  been  developed 
under  the  influences  of  the  surroundings,  by  edu- 
cation and  training,  by  bad  or  good  stimuli  from 
the  community.  While  those  acquired  traits  may 
have  become  relatively  lasting  dispositions,  their 
transformation  is,  after  all,  possible,  and  the  lim- 
its in  which  changes  may  be  expected  will  have 
to  be  found  out  by  exact  studies.  Individual  psy- 
chological rhythm,  attention  and  emotion,  mem- 
ory and  will  energy,  disposition  to  fatigue  and  to 
restoration,  imagination,  suggestibility  and  initia- 
tive, and  many  other  features  will  have  to  be  exam- 
ined in  their  relation  to  the  special  economic  aims. 
Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  on  another 
function  as  well,  the  experimental  testing  of  which 
has  only  recently  been  started.  I  refer  to  the  dif- 
ference in  the  individual  ability  of  men  to  profit 
from  training.  If  we  test  an  individual  at  a  certain 
point  in  his  life  with  regard  to  a  variable  ability, 
our  result  must  be  dependent  upon  three  factors, 
the  original  disposition  for  the  performance,  the 
original  disposition  for  the  advance  by  training, 
and  the  training  itself  actually  passed  through  up 
to  that  moment.  A  small  amount  of  antecedent 
training  for  the  particular  task  together  with  a 

125 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

high  ability  to  profit  from  repetition  may  be  a 
better  reason  for  the  appointment  of  a  man  than 
a  long  training  with  small  ability  to  profit  from 
schooling,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  actual 
achievement  at  this  time  may  be  in  the  first  case 
smaller  than  in  the  second.  He  will  do  less  at 
first,  but  he  promises  to  outrank  the  other  man 
after  a  period  of  further  training.  Special  experi- 
ments must  be  carried  on  and  have  been  actually 
started  to  determine  this  plasticity  of  the  psycho- 
physical apparatus  as  an  independent  inborn  trait 
of  the  individual. ^^ 

This  invasion  of  psychology  into  the  field  of 
economic  activities  is  still  so  little  advanced  that 
the  thought  of  a  real  distribution  of  the  wage- 
earners  among  the  various  commercial  and 
industrial  positions  on  the  basis  of  psychological 
tests  would  lead  far  beyond  the  present  possi- 
bilities. Moreover,  many  factors  would  interfere 
with  its  being  carried  out  consistently,  even  if  a 
much  higher  stage  of  experimental  research  were 
reached.  The  thousands  of  social  and  local  rea- 
sons which  influence  the  choice  of  a  vocation  to- 
day would  to  a  certain  degree  remain  in  force  also 
in  a  period  of  better  psychological  analysis.  More- 
over, the  personal  inclinations  and  interests  nat- 
urally would  and  ought  to  remain  the  mainspring 
of  economic  action.  This  inclination,  which  gives 

136 


CONTRIBUTIONS  FROM  MEN  OF  AFFAIRS 

so  much  of  the  joy  in  labor,  is  by  no  means  neces- 
sarily coincident  with  those  psychophysical  dispo- 
sitions which  insure  the  most  successful  work. 
Political  economists  have  found  this  out  repeat- 
edly from  their  statistical  inquiries.  Very  careful 
studies  of  the  textile  industry  in  Germany  car- 
ried out  in  recent  years  ^^  yielded  the  result  that 
the  intelligent,  highly  trained  textile  laborer 
often  dislikes  his  work  the  more,  the  more  he 
shows  ability  for  it,  this  ability  being  measured 
by  the  wages  the  individuals  earn  at  piecework. 
The  wage  and  the  emotional  attitude  were  not 
seldom  inversely  related.  Those  who  were  able 
to  produce  by  far  more  than  others  and  accord- 
ingly earned  the  most  were  sometimes  the  very 
ones  who  hated  the  work,  while  the  less  skillful 
workers  earned  less  but  enjoyed  the  work  more. 
The  consulting  economic  psychologist  will,  there- 
fore, at  first  reasonably  confine  himself  to  warning 
the  misfits  at  an  early  time.  Even  within  these 
limits  his  service  can  be  useful  to  both  parties,  the 
employers  and  the  employees.  He  will  only  slowly 
reach  the  stage  at  which  this  negative  warning 
may  be  supplemented  by  positive  suggestions,  as 
to  the  commercial  industrial  activities  for  which 
the  psychophysical  dispositions  promise  particu- 
lar success. 

A  real  assumption  of  responsibility  for  success 

127 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

of  course  cannot  be  risked  by  the  psychologist,  in- 
asmuch as  the  man  who  may  be  fitted  for  a  task 
by  his  mental  working  dispositions  may  neverthe- 
less destroy  his  chances  for  success  by  secondary 
personal  traits.  He  may  be  dishonest,  or  dissi- 
pated, or  a  drinker,  or  a  fighter,  or  physically 
ill.  Finally,  we  ought  not  to  forget  that  all  such 
efforts  to  adjust  to  one  another  the  psycholog- 
ical traits  and  the  requirements  of  the  work  can 
never  have  reference  to  the  extreme  variations 
of  human  traits.  The  exceptionally  talented  man 
knows  anyhow  where  he  belongs,  and  the  excep- 
tionally untalented  one  will  be  excluded  anyhow. 
The  psychological  aid  in  the  selection  of  the  fit 
refers  only  to  the  remaining  four  fifths  of  mankind 
for  whom  the  chances  of  success  can  indeed  be 
increased  as  soon  as  the  psychological  personal 
equation  is  systematically  and  with  scientific  ex- 
actitude brought  into  the  calculation  of  the  life 
development.  How  far  a  part  of  this  effort  will 
have  to  be  undertaken  by  the  school  is  a  social 
problem  which  must  be  considered  from  various 
points  of  view.  Its  discussion  would  lead  us  be- 
yond the  limits  of  our  present  inquiry,  but  it  seems 
probable  that  the  real  psychological  laboratory 
experiment  in  the  service  of  vocational  guidance 
does  not  belong  in  the  schoolroom  itself,  but  ought 
to  be  left  to  special  municipal  institutions. 


XII 

INDIVIDUALS   AND   GROUPS 

ONE  point  here  must  not  be  overlooked.  The 
effort  to  discover  the  personal  structure  of 
the  individual  in  the  interest  of  his  vocational 
chance  does  not  always  necessarily  involve  a  di- 
rect analysis  of  his  individuality,  as  material  of 
some  value  can  be  gained  indirectly.  Such  indi- 
rect knowledge  of  a  man's  mental  traits  may  be 
secured  first  of  all  through  referring  the  man  to 
the  groups  to  which  he  belongs  and  inquiring  into 
the  characteristic  traits  of  those  groups.  The 
psychology  of  human  variations  gives  not  only  an 
account  of  the  differences  from  person  to  person, 
but  studies  no  less  the  psychical  inequalities  of  the 
races,  of  the  nations,  of  the  ages,  of  the  profes- 
sions, and  so  on.  If  an  economic  activity  demands 
a  combination  of  mental  traits,  we  may  take  it 
for  granted  that  an  individual  will  be  fit  for  the 
work  as  soon  as  we  find  out  that  he  belongs  to  a 
group  in  which  these  required  mental  traits  hab- 
itually occur.  Such  a  judgment  based  on  group 
psychology  can  of  course  be  no  more  than  a  mere 
approach  to  a  solution  of  the  problem,  as  the  psy- 
chical qualities  may  vary  strongly  in  the  midst  of 
the  group.  The  special  individual  may  happen  to 

129 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

stand  at  the  extreme  limit  of  the  group,  and  the 
traits  which  are  usually  characteristic  of  it  may  be 
very  little  developed  or  entirely  lacking  in  his  spe- 
cial case.  We  may  know  that  the  inhabitants  of  a 
special  country  are  rather  alert,  and  yet  the  par- 
ticular individual  with  whom  we  have  to  deal  may 
be  clumsy  and  phlegmatic.  The  interests  of  econ- 
omy will,  therefore,  be  served  by  such  considera- 
tions of  group  psychology  only  if  the  employment, 
not  of  a  single  person,  but  of  a  large  number,  is  in 
question,  as  it  is  most  probable  that  the  average 
character  will  show  itself  in  a  sufficient  degree  as 
soon  as  many  members  of  the  group  are  involved. 
Even  in  this  case  the  presupposition  ought  to 
be  that  the  average  characteristics  are  found  out 
with  scientific  exactitude  by  statistical  and  ex- 
perimental methods,  and  not  that  they  are  simply 
deduced  from  superficial  impressions.  I  have 
found  that  just  this  race  psychological  diagnosis 
is  frequently  made  in  factories  with  great  super- 
ficiality. Some  of  the  American  industrial  centres 
offer  extremely  favorable  conditions  for  the  com- 
parative study  of  nationality.  I  have  visited 
many  manufacturing  establishments  in  which  al- 
most all  workers  are  immigrants  from  foreign 
countries  and  in  which  up  to  twenty  different 
nationalities  are  represented.  The  employment 
oflScers  there  easily  develop  some  psychological 

130 


INDIVIDUALS  AND  GROUPS 

theories  on  the  basis  of  which  they  are  convinced 
that  they  are  selecting  the  men  with  especial  skill, 
knowing  for  each  in  which  department  he  will  be 
most  successful.  They  consider  it  settled  that  for  a 
particular  kind  of  activity  the  Italians  are  the 
best,  and  for  another,  the  Irish,  and  for  a  third, 
the  Hungarians,  and  for  a  fourth,  the  Russian 
Jews.  But  as  soon  as  these  factory  secrets  have 
been  revealed,  you  may  be  surprised  to  find  that 
in  the  next  factory  a  decidedly  different  classifica- 
tion of  the  wage-earners  is  in  force.  In  a  gigantic 
manufacturing  concern,  I  received  the  definite 
information  that  the  Swedish  laborers  are  prefer- 
able wherever  a  steady  eye  is  needed,  and  in  an- 
other large  factory  on  the  same  street  I  was  as- 
sured that  just  the  Swedes  are  unfit  for  such  work. 
Sometimes  this  diversity  of  opinion  is  the  result 
of  different  points  of  view.  In  one  factory  in 
which  a  certain  industrial  operation  is  rather  dan- 
gerous, they  told  me  that  they  took  no  southern 
Europeans,  especially  no  Italians  and  Greeks,  be- 
cause they  are  too  hasty  and  careless  in  their 
movements,  while  they  gladly  filled  the  places 
with  Irishmen.  In  a  quite  similar  factory,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  had  a  prejudice  against  the 
Irishmen  alone  for  this  work,  because  the  Irish 
laborers  are  too  willing  to  run  a  risk  and  to  expose 
themselves  to  danger.    Probably  both  psycho- 

131 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE   MAN 

logical  observations  are  on  the  whole  correct,  but 
in  the  first  factory  only  the  one  and  in  the  second 
factory  only  the  other  was  recognized.  Much  more 
thorough  statistical  inquiries  than  those  which  as 
yet  exist,  especially  as  to  the  actual  differences  of 
wages  and  piecework  for  wage-earners  of  various 
nationalities,  would  have  to  furnish  a  basis  for 
such  race  psychological  statements,  until  the  time 
arrives  when  the  psychological  experiment  comes 
to  its  own. 

In  a  similar  way  so  far  we  have  to  rely  on  general 
theories  of  group  psychology  when  the  psycholog- 
ical differences  of  the  sexes  are  to  be  reckoned 
with  in  economic  interests.  So  long  as  laboratory 
methods  for  individual  tests  are  not  usual,  the 
mental  analysis  of  the  general  groups  of  men  and 
women  must  form  the  background  for  indus- 
trial decisions.  To  be  sure,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
emphasize  certain  mental  traits  as  characteristic 
of  women  in  general  in  contrast  to  men  in  general, 
and  to  relate  them  to  certain  fundamental  tenden- 
cies of  their  psychophysical  organism.  As  soon 
as  this  is  done,  it  is  easy  theoretically  to  deduce 
that  certain  industrial  functions  are  excellently 
adapted  to  the  minds  of  women  and  that  certain 
others  stand  in  striking  antagonism  to  them.  If 
the  employment  of  large  numbers  is  in  question, 
and  average  values  alone  are  involved,  such  a  de- 

132 


INDIVIDUALS  AND  GROUPS 

cision  on  the  basis  of  group  psychology  may  be 
adequate.  In  most  factories  this  vague  sex  psy- 
chology, to  be  sure,  usually  with  a  strong  ad- 
mixture of  wage  questions,  suggests  for  which 
machines  men  and  for  which  women  ought  to  be 
employed.  But  here  again  it  is  not  at  all  im- 
probable that  in  the  case  of  a  particular  woman  the 
traditional  group  value  may  be  entirely  mislead- 
ing and  the  personality  accordingly  unfit  for  the 
place.  Only  the  subtle  psychological  individual 
analysis  can  overcome  the  superficial  prejudices 
of  group  psychology.  The  situation  lies  differently 
when  problems  of  economic  policy  are  before  us. 
Such  general  policies  as,  for  instance,  colonial 
politics,  or  immigration  politics,  or  politics  con- 
cerned with  city  and  rural  communities,  or  with 
coast  and  mountain  population,  will  always  have 
to  be  based  on  group  psychology  as  far  as  the  eco- 
nomic problems  are  involved,  inasmuch  as  they 
refer  to  the  average  and  not  to  the  individual 
differences. 

Finally,  another  indirect  scheme  to  determine 
the  personal  qualities  needed  for  economic  effi- 
ciency may  be  suggested  by  the  psychology  of  the 
typical  correlations  of  human  traits.  We  have 
seen  that  group  psychology  proclaims  that  a 
certain  individual  probably  has  certain  traits  be- 
cause he  belongs  to  this  or  that  nation  or  to  this 

133 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

or  that  otherwise  well-known  group.  Correlation 
psychology  proclaims  that  a  particular  individual 
possesses  or  does  not  possess  certain  traits  be- 
cause he  shows  or  does  not  show  some  other  de- 
finite qualities.  A  correlation,  for  instance,  which 
the  commercial  world  often  presupposes,  may 
exist  between  individual  traits  and  the  hand-writ- 
ing. Graphologists  are  convinced  that  a  certain 
loop  or  flourish,  or  the  steepness  or  the  length 
of  the  letters,  or  the  position  of  the  i  dot,  is  a 
definite  indication  that  the  writer  possesses  cer- 
tain qualities  of  personality;  and  if  just  these 
qualities  are  essential  requirements  for  the  posi- 
tion, the  impression  of  the  handwriting  in  a  letter 
may  be  taken  as  a  sufiicient  basis  for  appoint- 
ment. The  scientist  has  reason  to  look  upon  this 
particular  case  of  graphological  correlation  with 
distrust.  Yet  even  he  may  acknowledge  that  cer- 
tain correlations  exist  between  the  neatness,  care- 
fulness, uniformity,  energy,  and  similar  features 
of  the  letter,  and  the  general  carefulness,  steadi- 
ness, neatness,  and  energy  of  the  personality. 

However,  the  laboratory  psychologists  nowa- 
days have  gone  far  beyond  such  superficial  claims 
for  correlations  of  symptoms.  With  experimental 
and  statistical  methods  they  have  gathered  ample 
material  which  demonstrates  the  exact  degree  of 
probability  with  which  we  have  a  right  to  expect 

134 


INDIVIDUALS  AND  GROUPS 

that  certain  qualities  will  occur  together.  Theo- 
retically we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  those 
traits  which  are  always  present  together  or  absent 
together  ultimately  have  a  common  mental  root. 
Yet  practically  they  appear  as  two  independent 
traits,  and  therefore  it  remains  important  to  know 
that,  if  we  can  find  one  of  them,  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  other  will  exist  there  too.  Inasmuch  as 
the  one  of  the  two  traits  may  be  easily  detected, 
while  the  other  may  be  hidden  and  can  be  found 
out  only  by  long  careful  tests,  it  would  be  valu- 
able, indeed,  for  the  employment  manager  to 
become  acquainted  with  such  correlations  as  the 
psychologist  may  discover :  as  soon  as  he  becomes 
aware  of  the  superficially  noticeable  symptom, 
he  can  foresee  that  the  other  disposition  is  most 
probably  present.  To  give  an  illustration :  in  the 
interest  of  such  measurements  of  correlations  we 
have  studied  in  the  Harvard  laboratory  the  vari- 
ous characteristics  of  attention  and  their  mutual 
dependence. ^^  We  found  that  typical  connec- 
tions exist  between  apparently  independent  feat- 
ures of  attention.  Persons  who  have  a  rather 
expansive  span  of  attention  for  acoustical  im- 
pressions have  also  a  wide  span  for  the  visual 
objects.  Persons  whose  attention  is  vivid  and 
quick  have  on  the  whole  the  expansive  type  of  at- 
tention, while  those  who  attend  slowly  have  a 

135 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  MAN 

narrow  field  of  attention,  and  so  on.  Hence  the 
manifestation  of  one  feature  of  attention  allows 
us  to  presuppose  without  further  tests  that  certain 
other  features  may  be  expected  in  the  particular 
individual. 

The  problem  of  attention,  indeed,  seems  to 
stand  quite  in  the  centre  of  the  field  of  indus- 
trial efficiency.  This  conviction  has  grown  upon 
me  in  my  observation  of  industrial  life.  The  pe- 
culiar kind  of  attention  decides  more  than  any 
mental  trait  for  which  economic  activity  the  indi- 
vidual is  adapted.  The  essential  point  is  that  such 
differences  of  attention  cannot  be  characterized 
as  good  or  bad ;  it  is  not  a  question  of  the  attentive 
and  of  the  inattentive  mind.  One  type  is  not  bet- 
ter than  another,  but  is  simply  different.  Two 
workingmen,  not  only  equally  industrious  and 
capable,  but  also  equally  attentive,  may  yet  oc- 
cupy two  positions  in  which  they  are  both  com- 
plete failures  because  their  attention  does  not  fit 
the  places,  and  both  may  become  highly  efficient 
as  soon  as  they  exchange  positions.  Their  par- 
ticular types  of  attention  have  now  found  the 
right  places.  The  one  may  be  disposed  to  a  strong 
concentration  by  which  everything  is  inhibited 
which  lies  on  the  mental  periphery,  the  other  may 
have  the  talent  for  distributing  his  attention  over 
a  large  field,  while  he  is  unable  to  hold  it  for  a  long 

136 


INDIVIDUALS  AND  GROUPS 

while  at  one  point.  If  the  one  industrial  activity 
demands  the  attentive  observation  of  one  little 
lever  or  one  wheel  at  one  point,  while  the  other 
demands  that  half  a  dozen  large  machines  be 
simultaneously  supervised,  all  that  is  necessary 
is  to  find  the  man  with  the  right  type  of  atten- 
tion for  each  place.  It  would  be  utterly  arbitrary 
to  claim  that  the  expansive  type  of  attention  is 
economically  more  or  less  valuable  than  the  con- 
centrated type.  Both  in  English  and  in  German 
we  have  a  long  popular  series  of  pamphlets  with 
descriptions  of  the  requirements  and  conditions 
for  the  various  occupations  to  which  a  boy  or  a 
girl  may  turn,  but  I  have  nowhere  found  any  re- 
ference to  the  most  essential  mental  functions 
such  as  the  particular  kind  of  attention  or  mem- 
ory or  will.  These  pamphlets  are  always  cut  after 
the  same  pattern.  Where  the  detail  refers  at  all 
to  the  mental  side,  it  points  only  to  particular 
knowledge  which  may  be  learned  in  school  or 
trade  or  work,  or  to  abilities  which  may  be  devel- 
oped by  training.  But  the  individual  differences 
which  are  set  by  the  particular  conditions  and 
dispositions  of  the  mind  are  neglected  with  sur- 
prising uniformity  in  the  vocational  literature  of 
all  countries.  The  time  seems  ripe  for  at  last  filling 
this  blank  in  the  consciousness  of  the  nation  and 
in  the  institutions  of  the  land. 


PART  II 

THE  BEST  POSSIBLE   WORK 


PART  II 

THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 
XIII 

LEARNING   AND   TRAINING 

WE  have  placed  our  psychotechnical  inter- 
est at  the  service  of  economic  tasks.  We 
therefore  had  to  start  from  the  various  economic 
purposes  and  had  to  look  backward,  asking  what 
ways  might  lead  to  these  goals.  All  our  studies 
so  far  were  in  this  sense  subordinated  to  the  one 
task  which  ought  to  be  the  primary  one  in  the 
economic  world,  and  yet  which  has  been  most 
ignored.  The  purpose  before  us  was  to  find  for 
every  economic  occupation  the  best-fitted  per- 
sonality, both  in  the  interest  of  economic  success 
and  in  the  interest  of  personal  development.  In- 
dividual traits  under  this  point  of  view  become 
for  us  the  decisive  psychological  factors,  and  ex- 
perimental psychology  had  to  show  us  a  method 
to  determine  those  personal  differences  and  their 
relation  to  the  demands  for  industrial  efficiency. 
This  first  goal  may  be  reached  with  all  the  means 
of  science,  as  we  hope  it  will  be  in  the  future,  or 

141 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

everything  may  be  left  to  unscientific,  haphazard 
methods  as  in  the  past :  in  any  case  a  second  task 
stands  before  the  community,  namely,  the  securing 
of  the  best  possible  work  from  every  man  in  his 
place.  Indeed,  the  nation  cannot  delay  the  solu- 
tion of  this  second  problem  until  the  first  has  been 
solved  in  a  satisfactory  way.  We  might  even  say 
that  the  answer  to  the  second  question  is  the  more 
important,  the  less  satisfactory  the  answer  to  the 
first  is.  If  every  place  in  the  economic  world  were 
filled  only  by  those  who  are  perfectly  adapted  by 
their  mental  traits,  it  would  be  much  less  difficult 
to  get  efficient  work  from  every  one.  The  fact  that 
so  many  misfits  are  at  work  makes  it  such  an 
urgent  necessity  to  find  ways  and  means  by  which 
the  efficiency  can  be  heightened. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  the 
problem  of  the  best  work  is  not  quite  such  a  clear 
one  as  that  of  the  best  man.  From  various  stand- 
points a  different  answer  may  be  given  to  the 
question  which  kind  of  work  is  the  best.  A  capi- 
talistic, profit-seeking  egotism  may  consider  the 
quickest  performance,  or,  if  differences  of  quality 
are  involved,  the  most  skillful  performance,  the 
only  desirable  end.  The  social  reformers,  on  the 
other  hand,  may  consider  the  best  work  that  which 
combines  the  greatest  and  best  possible  output 
with  the  highest  possible  saving  of  the  organism 

142 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

and  the  fullest  development  of  the  personality. 
We  have  emphasized  from  the  start  that  the 
practical  psychologist  as  such  has  not  the  right 
to  give  a  decision  upon  problems  of  social  civiliza- 
tion. He  has  to  accept  the  economic  tasks  from 
the  community  for  which  he  is  working  and  his 
impartial  service  commences  only  when  the  goals 
have  been  determined.  It  is  not  his  share  to  se- 
lect the  ends,  but  simply  to  determine  the  means 
after  the  valuable  ends  have  been  chosen.  As  a 
psychological  scientist  he  has  not  the  right  to  en- 
ter into  the  arena  of  different  social  party  fights. 
Yet  we  find  after  all  a  broad  region  which  seems 
rather  untouched  by  any  conflict  of  reasonable 
opinions.  A  reckless  capitalism  on  the  one  side 
and  a  feeble  sentimentality  on  the  other  side  may 
try  to  widen  or  to  narrow  the  boundaries  of  this 
region,  but  taken  all  together,  a  vigorous  healthy 
nation  which  is  eagerly  devoted  to  its  work  is  on 
the  whole  in  agreement  as  to  the  essential  econo- 
mic demands  for  eflicient  labor. 

Experience,  to  be  sure,  shows  that  great  changes 
in  the  conditions  of  work  can  never  enter  into  the 
history  of  civilization  without  certain  disturb- 
ances, and  that  opposition  must  therefore  neces- 
sarily arise  in  certain  groups  even  against  such 
changes  as  are  undoubtedly  improvements  and 
advances  from  the  point  of  view  of  tlie  whole  na- 

143 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

tion.  Such  dissatisfaction  arose  when  the  factory 
system  was  introduced,  and  it  is  only  natural  that 
some  irritation  should  accompany  the  introduc- 
tion of  psychological  improvements  in  the  methods 
of  work,  inasmuch  as  not  a  few  wage-earners  may 
at  first  have  to  lose  their  places  because  a  small 
number  of  men  will  under  the  improved  conditions 
be  suflficient  for  the  performance  of  tasks  which 
needed  many  before.  But  the  history  of  econo- 
mics has  clearly  shown  that  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  whole  community  such  an  apparent  dis- 
turbance has  always  been  only  temporary.  If  the 
psychologists  succeed  in  fundamentally  improving 
the  conditions  of  labor,  the  increased  eflSciency  of 
the  individual  will  promote  such  an  enriched  and 
vivified  economic  life  that  ultimately  an  increase 
in  the  number  of  laborers  needed  will  result.  The 
inquiry  into  the  possible  psychological  contribu- 
tions to  the  question  of  reinforced  achievement 
must  not  be  deterred  by  the  superficial  objection 
that  in  one  or  another  industrial  concern  a  dis- 
missal of  wage-earners  might  at  first  result.  Psy- 
chotechnics  does  not  stand  in  the  service  of  a  party, 
but  exclusively  in  the  service  of  civilization. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  we  may  start  from 
the  commonplace  that  every  form  of  economic 
labor  in  the  workshop  and  in  the  factory,  in  the 
field  and  in  the  mine,  in  the  store  and  in  the  office, 

144 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

must  first  be  learned.  How  far  do  the  experi- 
ments of  the  psychologist  offer  suggestions  for 
securing  the  most  economic  method  of  learning 
practical  activities  ?  Bodily  actions  in  the  service 
of  economic  work  are  taught  and  learned  in  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  places.  It  is  evident  that 
one  method  of  teaching  must  reach  the  goal  more 
quickly  and  more  reliably  than  another.  Some 
methods  of  teaching  must  therefore  be  econom- 
ically more  advantageous,  and  yet  on  the  whole 
the  methods  of  teaching  muscular  work  are  es- 
sentially left  to  chance.  It  is  indeed  not  difficult 
to  observe  how  factory  workers  or  artisans  have 
learned  the  same  complex  motion  according  to  en- 
tirely different  methods.  The  result  is  that  they 
carry  out  the  various  partial  movements  in  a  dif- 
ferent order,  or  with  different  auxiliary  motions, 
or  in  different  positions,  or  in  a  different  rhythm, 
or  with  different  emphasis,  simply  because  they 
imitate  different  teachers,  and  because  no  norm, 
no  certainty  as  to  the  best  methods  for  the  teach- 
ing, has  been  determined.  But  the  process  of 
learning  is  still  more  fluctuating  and  still  more  de- 
pendent upon  chance  than  the  process  of  teach- 
ing. The  apprentice  approaches  the  instruction  in 
any  chance  way,  and  the  beginner  usually  learns 
even  the  first  steps  with  a  psychophysical  attitude 
which  is  left  to  accident.    An  immense  waste  of 

145 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

energy   and   a  quite   anti-economic   training  in 
unfit  movements  is  the  necessary  result. 

The  learning  of  the  elements  of  school  know- 
ledge in  the  classroom  in  earlier  times  proceeded 
after  exactly  such  chance  methods.  Any  one  who 
knew  how  to  read,  write,  and  calculate  felt  him- 
self prepared  to  pour  reading,  writing,  and  arith- 
metic into  the  unprotected  children.  Methods 
which  are  based  on  scientific  examination  of  the 
psychophysical  process  of  reading  and  writing 
were  not  at  the  disposal  of  the  schools,  and  exact 
results  from  comparative  studies  of  pedagogical 
methods  had  not  been  secured.  The  last  few  de- 
cades have  created  an  entirely  new  foundation  for 
enlightened  school  work.  The  experimental  in- 
vestigations of  pedagogical  psychology  have  de- 
termined exactly  how  the  consciousness  of  the 
child  reacts  on  the  various  methods  of  teaching 
and  have  built  up  a  real  systematic  economic 
learning.  All  which  was  left  to  dilettantic  ca- 
price has  been  transformed  into  more  or  less 
definite  standard  forms.  For  instance,  the  old 
scheme  of  teaching  reading  b}^  the  alphabet 
method  is  practically  eliminated  from  our  mod- 
ern schools.  It  is  clear  that  this  learning  of  the 
names  of  the  single  letters  as  a  starting-point  for 
the  reading  of  words  was  not  only  a  wasting  of 
time  and  energy,  but  an  actual  disturbance  in  the 

146 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

development  of  the  reading  process  in  the  older 
generation.  As  those  names  of  the  letters  do  not 
occur  at  all  in  the  words  to  be  read,  but  only  their 
sounds,  what  had  been  learned  in  seeing  the  single 
letters  had  to  be  inhibited  in  pronouncing  the 
whole  word.  It  seems  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  learning  of  industrial  activities  on  the  whole 
still  stands  on  the  level  of  such  alphabet  methods, 
and  this  cannot  be  otherwise,  as  the  real  problem, 
namely,  the  systematic  investigation  of  the  psy- 
chophysical activities  involved,  has  never  been 
brought  into  the  psychological  laboratory. 

The  pedagogical  experiment  has  shown  clearly 
enough  that  the  subjective  feeling  of  easier  or 
quicker  learning  may  be  entirely  unreliable  and 
misleading.  If  the  task  is  to  learn  a  page  by  heart, 
we  may  proceed  after  many  different  methods.  We 
may  learn  very  small  fractions  of  the  text,  re- 
peating only  a  few  words,  or  we  may  read  whole 
paragraphs  every  time;  we  may  repeat  the  whole 
material  again  and  again,  or  we  may  put  in  long 
periods  of  rest  after  a  few  repetitions;  we  may 
frequently  recite  it  from  memory  and  have  some 
one  to  prompt  us;  we  may  give  our  attention  es- 
pecially to  the  meaning  of  the  words,  or  merely 
to  the  sounds,  or  we  may  introduce  any  number 
of  similar  variations.  Now  the  careful  experi- 
ment shows  that  of  two  such  methods  one  which 

147 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

appears  to  us  the  better  and  more  appropriate  in 
learning,  perhaps  even  as  the  easier  and  more 
comfortable,  may  prove  itself  the  less  efficient  one 
in  the  practical  result.  The  psychology  of  learn- 
ing, which  won  its  success  by  introducing  mean- 
ingless syllables  as  experimental  material,  has 
slowly  determined  the  most  reliable  methods  for 
impressing  knowledge  on  memory.  Where  such 
results  have  once  been  secured,  it  would  surely 
be  a  grave  mistake  simply  to  stick  to  the  methods 
of  so-called  common  sense  and  to  leave  it  to  the 
caprice  of  the  individual  teacher  to  decide  what 
method  of  learning  he  will  suggest  to  his  pupils. 
The  best  method  is  always  the  only  one  which 
should  be  considered.  The  psychology  of  economic 
work  must  aim  toward  similar  goals.  We  must 
secure  a  definite  knowledge  as  to  the  methods  by 
which  a  group  of  movements  can  best  be  learned. 
We  must  understand  what  value  is  to  be  attached 
to  the  repetitions  and  to  the  pauses,  to  the  imita- 
tions and  to  the  special  combinations  of  move- 
ments, to  the  exercise  in  parts  of  the  movements, 
to  the  rhythm  of  the  work,  and  to  many  similar 
influences  which  may  shape  the  learning  process. 
The  simplest  aspect,  that  of  the  mere  repeti- 
tion of  the  movement,  has  frequently  been  ex- 
amined by  psychophysicists.  The  real  founder 
of  experimental  psychology,  Feclmer,  showed  the 

148 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

way;  he  performed  fatiguing  experiments  with 
Hfted  dumb-bells.  Then  came  the  time  in  which 
the  laboratories  began  to  make  a  record  of  the 
muscular  activities  with  the  help  of  the  ergo- 
graph,  an  instrument  with  which  the  movements 
of  the  arm  and  the  fingers  can  easily  be  registered 
on  the  smoked  surface  of  a  revolving  drum.  The 
subtlest  variations  of  the  activity,  the  increase 
and  decrease  of  the  psychomotor  impulse,  the 
mental  fatigue,  can  be  traced  exactly  in  such 
graphic  records.  This  psychomotor  side  of  the 
process,  and  not  the  mere  muscle  activity  as  such, 
is  indeed  the  essential  factor  which  should  interest 
us.  The  results  of  exercise  are  a  training  of  the 
central  apparatus  of  the  brain  and  not  of  the  mus- 
cular periphery.  The  further  development  of  those 
experiments  soon  led  to  complex  questions,  which 
referred  not  only  to  the  mere  change  in  the  motor 
efficiency,  but  to  the  learning  of  particular  groups 
of  movements  and  to  the  influences  on  the  ex- 
actitude and  reliability  of  the  movements.  The 
purely  mental  factors  of  the  will-impulse,  espe- 
cially the  consciousness  of  the  task,  came  into  the 
foreground.  These  experiences  of  the  scientists 
concerning  the  influences  of  training,  the  mechan- 
ization of  repetition,  and  the  automatization  of 
movements  have  been  thoroughly  discussed  by 
a  brilliant  political  economist  ^^  as  an  explana- 

149 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

tion  of  certain  industrial  facts,  but  they  have 
not  yet  practically  influenced  life  in  the  factory. 
The  nearest  approach  from  the  experimental 
side  to  the  study  of  the  effect  of  training  in  actual 
industrial  tasks  may  be  found  in  certain  labora- 
tory investigations  which  refer  to  the  learning 
of  telegraphing,  typewriting,  and  so  on.  For 
instance,  we  have  a  careful  study  ^°  of  the  pro- 
gress made  in  learning  telegraphy,  both  as  to  the 
transmitting  of  the  telegrams  by  the  key  move- 
ment and  the  receiving  of  the  telegrams  by  the 
ear.  It  was  found  that  the  rapidity  of  trans- 
mitting increases  more  rapidly  and  more  uni- 
formly than  the  rapidity  of  receiving.  But  while 
the  curve  of  the  latter  rises  more  slowly  and  more 
irregularly,  it  finally  reaches  the  greater  height. 
The  ability  in  transmitting,  represented  by  a 
graphic  record,  shows  an  ascent  which  corre- 
sponds to  the  typical,  steady  curve  of  training.  In 
the  receiving  curve,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
not  far  from  the  beginning  a  characteristic  period 
during  which  no  progress  whatever  can  be  no- 
ticed, and  this  is  also  repeated  at  a  later  stage. 
The  psychological  analysis  shows  that  the  in- 
crease of  ability  in  the  receiving  of  telegrams  de- 
pends upon  the  development  of  a  complex  system 
of  psychophysical  habits.  The  periods  in  which 
the  curve  does  not  ascend  represent  stages  of 

150 


LEARNING  AND   TRAINING 

training  in  which  the  elementary  habits  are  almost 
completely  formed,  but  have  not  become  suffi- 
ciently automatic.  The  attention  is  therefore  not 
yet  ready  to  start  habits  of  a  higher  order.  The 
lowest  correlation  refers  to  the  single  letters,  after 
that  to  the  syllables  and  words.  As  soon  as  the  ap- 
prentice has  reached  this  point,  he  stops,  because 
he  must  learn  to  master  more  and  more  new  words 
until  his  telegraphic  vocabulary  is  large  enough 
to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  turn  his  conscious- 
ness to  whole  groups  of  words  at  once.  Only  when 
this  new  habit  has  been  made  automatic  by  a 
training  of  several  months  can  he  advance  to  a 
level  at  which  whole  groups  of  words  are  perceived 
as  telegraphic  units.  A  time  follows  in  which  this 
mastery  of  whole  phrases  advances  rapidly,  until 
a  new  period  of  rest  comes,  from  which,  only  after 
years  and  often  quite  suddenly,  a  last  new  ascent 
can  be  noticed.  Instead  of  concentrating  the  at- 
tention with  conscious  strain  on  single  phrases, 
the  operator  progresses  to  a  perfect  liberty  in 
which  whole  sentences  are  understood  automat- 
ically. 

We  also  have  a  model  experimental  research 
into  the  psychological  conditions  of  learning  in 
the  case  of  writing  on  a  typewriter. ^^  By  electrical 
connections  between  the  typewriting  machine 
and  a   system  of  levers  which   registered   their 

151 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

movements  on  the  rotating  drum  of  a  kymo- 
graph, each  striking  of  a  key,  each  completion  of 
a  word,  or  of  a  line,  could  be  recorded  in  exact 
time-relations.  Each  glance  at  the  copy  was  also 
registered.  It  was  found  that  the  process  of  learn- 
ing consisted  first  of  a  continuous  simplification  of 
the  cumbersome  methods  with  which  the  beginner 
commences.  A  steady  elimination  of  unfit  move- 
ments, a  selection,  a  reorganization,  and  finally, 
a  combination  of  psychophysical  acts  to  impulses 
of  higher  order,  could  be  traced  exactly.  Here,  too, 
the  curve  of  learning  at  first  rises  quickly  and 
then  more  and  more  slowly.  Of  course  the  usual 
fluctuations  in  the  growth  of  the  ability  can  also 
be  found,  and  above  all  the  irregular  periods  of 
rest  in  which  the  learning  itself  does  not  progress, 
for  some  of  these  so-called  plateaus  which  lie  be- 
tween the  end  of  one  ascent  and  the  beginning  of 
the  next  may  cover  a  month  and  more.  At 
the  beginning  we  have  the  elementary  association 
between  the  single  letter  and  the  position  of  the 
corresponding  key,  but  soon  an  immediate  con- 
nection between  the  visual  impression  of  the 
whole  syllable  or  the  whole  word  and  the  total 
group  of  movements  necessary  to  strike  the  keys 
for  it  is  developed.  The  more  the  ability  grows, 
the  more  these  psychical  impulses  of  higher  order 
become  organized  without  conscious  intention. 

152 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

The  study  shows  that  this  development  of  higher 
habits  has  already  begun  before  the  lower  habits 
are  fully  settled. 

How  far  the  special  training  involves  at  the 
same  time  a  general  training  which  could  be  of 
advantage  for  other  kinds  of  labor  has  not  yet 
been  studied  at  all  with  reference  to  industrial  tech- 
nique. There  we  are  still  completely  dependent 
upon  certain  experiences  in  the  field  of  experi- 
mental pedagogy,  and  upon  certain  statistics,  for 
instance,  in  the  textile  industry.  Many  patient 
investigations,  with  every  independent  group  of 
apparatus  and  machines,  may  be  necessary  before 
psychotechnics  will  be  able  to  supply  industry 
with  reliable  advice  for  teaching  and  learning.  Nor 
have  we  the  least  right  hastily  to  carry  over  the 
results  from  one  group  of  movements  to  another. 
Even  where  superficially  a  certain  similarity 
between  the  technical  factors  exists,  the  psycho- 
physical conditions  may  be  essentially  differ- 
ent. In  the  two  cases  mentioned,  for  instance, 
telegraphing  and  typewriting,  the  chief  factor 
seems  the  same,  as  in  both  cases  the  aim  is  to 
make  the  quickest  possible  finger  movements  for 
purposes  of  signals;  and  yet  it  is  not  surprising 
that  the  development  of  the  ability  from  the  be- 
ginnings to  the  highest  mastery  is  rather  unlike, 
as  all  the  movements  in  telegraphing  are  pcr- 

153 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

formed  with  the  same  finger,  while  in  typewriting 
the  chief  trait  is  the  organization  of  groups  from 
the  impulses  to  all  ten  fingers.  At  least  it  is  cer- 
tain that  learning  always  means  far  more  than 
a  mere  facilitation  of  the  movement  by  mechan- 
ical repetition,  and  this  is  true  of  the  simplest 
handling  of  the  tools  in  the  workshop,  of  the 
movements  at  the  machine  in  the  factory,  and  of 
the  most  complex  performances  at  the  subtlest  in- 
struments. The  chief  factor  in  the  development  is 
always  the  organization  of  the  impulses  by  which 
the  reactions  which  are  at  first  complicated  be- 
come simplified,  later  mechanized,  and  finally 
synthesized  into  a  higher  group  which  becomes 
subordinated  to  one  simple  psychical  impulse. 
The  most  reliable  and  psychophysically  most  eco- 
nomic means  for  this  organization  will  have  to  be 
studied  in  the  economic  psychological  laborato- 
ries of  the  future  for  every  particular  technique. 
Then  only  can  the  enormous  waste  of  psychical 
energy  resulting  from  haphazard  methods  be 
brought  to  an  end. 

A  problem  which  is  still  too  little  considered 
in  industrial  life  is  the  mutual  interference  of  ac- 
quired technical  activities.  If  one  connected  series 
of  movements  is  well  trained  by  practice,  does  it 
become  less  firmly  fixed,  if  another  series  is  stud- 
ied in  which  the  same  beginning  is  connected  with 

154 


LEARNING   AND  TRAINING 

another  path  of  discharge?  I  approached  this  psy- 
chophysical question  of  learning  by  experiments 
which  I  carried  on  for  a  long  while  with  variations 
of  ordinary  habits  of  daily  life,  asking  whether  a 
habit  associated  with  a  certain  sensory  stimulus 
can  function  automatically  while  dispositions  for 
a  different  habit,  previously  acquired,  remain  in 
the  psychophysical  system.  For  instance,  I  was 
accustomed  to  carry  my  watch  in  my  left-hand 
vest  pocket.  For  a  week  I  carried  it  in  the  right- 
hand  pocket  of  my  trousers  and  recorded  every 
case  in  which  I  first  automatically  made  the  move- 
ment to  the  vest.  After  some  time  the  movement 
to  the  right-hand  pocket  became  entirely  auto- 
matic. When  it  was  suflSciently  fixed,  I  again  put 
the  watch  in  the  left-hand  vest  pocket  and  re- 
corded how  often  I  unconsciously  grasped  at  the 
right  side  when  I  wanted  to  see  what  time  it  was. 
As  soon  as  the  vest  pocket  movement  had  again 
become  fixed,  I  went  back  to  the  right-hand  trou- 
sers pocket.  And  so  I  alternated  for  a  long  while, 
always  changing  only  after  reaching  complete 
automatism.  But  the  results  in  this  case  and  in 
other  similar  experiments  which  I  carried  on 
showed  that  the  new  automatic  connection  did 
not  extinguish  the  after  effects  of  the  previous 
habit.  With  every  new  change  the  number  of 
wrong  movements  became  smaller  and  smaller, 

155 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

and  finally  a  point  was  reached  at  which  the 
dispositions  for  both  movements  were  equally 
developed  so  that  no  wrong  movements  oc- 
curred when  the  watch  was  put  into  the  new 
position;^^ 

This  problem  has  been  followed  up  very  re- 
cently in  a  valuable  investigation  at  Columbia 
University, ^^  in  which  various  habits  of  type- 
writing and  of  card-sorting  were  acquired  and 
studied  in  their  mutual  interference.  These  very 
careful  experiments  also  show  that  when  two 
opposing  associations  are  alternately  practiced, 
they  have  an  interference  effect  on  each  other, 
but  that  the  interference  grows  less  and  less  as  the 
practice  effect  becomes  greater.  The  interference 
effect  is  gradually  overcome  and  both  opposing 
associations  become  automatic,  so  that  either  of 
them  can  be  called  up  independently  without  the 
appearance  of  the  other.  Many  details  of  the 
research  suggest  that  this  whole  group  of  inter- 
ference problems  deserves  the  most  careful  at- 
tention by  those  who  would  practically  profit 
from  increased  industrial  eflSciency. 

Finally,  in  the  experimental  study  of  the  pro- 
blem of  technical  learning,  we  cannot  ignore  the 
many  side  influences  which  may  hasten  or  delay, 
improve  or  disturb,  the  acquisition  of  industrial 
skill.  In  the  Harvard  laboratory,  for  instance,  we 

156 


LEARNING  AND  TRAINING 

are  at  present  engaged  in  an  investigation  which 
deals  with  the  influence  of  feehngs  on  the  rapidity 
with  which  new  movement  coordinations  are 
mastered. ^^  In  order  to  have  unhmited  compar- 
able material  a  very  simple  technical  performance 
is  required,  namely,  the  distribution  of  the  52 
playing-cards  into  52  boxes.  Labels  on  the  boxes 
indicate  changing  combinations  for  the  distri- 
bution to  be  learned.  We  examine,  on  the  one 
side,  the  influence  of  feelings  of  comfort  or  of  dis- 
comfort on  the  learning  of  the  new  habit,  these 
feeling  states  being  produced  by  external  condi- 
tions, such  as  pleasant  or  unpleasant  sounds, 
odors,  and  so  on.  On  the  other  side  we  trace  the 
effects  of  those  feelings  which  arise  during  the 
learning  process  itself,  such  as  feelings  of  satisfac- 
tion with  progress,  or  disappointment,  or  discom- 
fort, or  disgust  or  joy  in  the  activity. 


XIV 

THE   ADJUSTMENT    OF  TECHNICAL    TO 
PSYCHICAL  CONDITIONS 

TEACHING  and  learning  represent  only  the 
preliminary  problem.  The  fundamental 
question  remains,  after  all,  how  the  work  is  to  be 
done  by  those  who  have  learned  it  in  accordance 
with  the  customs  of  the  economic  surroundings  and 
who  are  accordingly  already  educated  and  trained 
for  it.  What  can  be  done  to  eliminate  everything 
which  diminishes  and  decreases  efficiency,  and 
what  remains  to  be  done  to  reinforce  it.  Such 
influences  are  evidently  exerted  by  the  external 
technical  conditions,  by  variations  of  the  activity 
itself,  and  by  the  play  of  the  psychical  motives 
and  counter-motives.  It  must  seem  as  if  only  this 
last  factor  would  belong  in  the  realm  of  psycho- 
logy, but  the  technical  conditions,  of  which  the 
machine  itself  is  the  most  important  part,  and  the 
bodily  movements  also  have  manifold  relations 
to  the  psychical  life.  Only  as  far  as  these  relations 
prevail  has  the  psychologist  any  reason  to  study 
the  problem.  The  purely  physical  and  economic 
factors  of  technique  do  not  interest  him  at  all,  but 
when  a  technical  arrangement  makes  a  psychophy- 

158 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

sical  achievement  more  difficult  or  more  easy,  it 
belongs  in  the  sphere  of  the  psychologist,  and  just 
this  aspect  of  the  work  may  become  of  greatest  im- 
portance for  the  total  result.  In  all  three  of  these 
directions,  that  is,  with  reference  to  the  technical, 
to  the  physiological,  and  to  the  purely  psychical, 
the  scientific  management  movement  has  pre- 
pared the  way.  The  engineers  of  scientific  man- 
agement recognized,  at  least,  that  no  part  of  the 
industrial  process  is  indifferent;  even  the  appar- 
ently most  trivial  activity,  the  slightest  move- 
ment of  arm  or  hand  or  leg,  became  the  object  of 
their  exact  measurement.  The  stopwatch  which 
measures  every  movement  in  fractions  of  a  second 
has  become  the  symbol  of  this  new  economic 
period.  As  long  as  special  psychological  experi- 
ments in  the  service  of  industrial  psychology  are 
still  so  exceptional,  it  may,  indeed,  be  acknow- 
ledged that  the  practical  experiments  in  the  serv- 
ice of  scientific  management  have  come  nearest 
to  the  solution  of  these  special  psychotechnical 
problems. 

To  proceed  from  without  toward  the  centre,  we 
may  begin  our  review  with  the  physical  technique 
of  the  working  conditions  and  its  relations  to 
the  mind.  The  history  of  technique  shows  on 
every  page  this  practical  adjustment  of  external 
labor  conditions  to  the  psychophysical  necessities 

159 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

and  psychophysical  demands.  No  machine  with 
which  a  human  being  is  to  work  can  survive  in  the 
struggle  for  technical  existence,  unless  it  is  to  a 
certain  degree  adapted  to  the  human  nerve  and 
muscle  system  and  to  man's  possibilities  of  per- 
ception, of  attention,  of  memory,  of  feeling,  and 
of  will.  Industrial  technique  with  its  restless  im- 
provements has  always  been  subordinated  to  this 
postulate.  Every  change  which  made  it  possible 
for  the  workingman  to  secure  equal  effects  with 
smaller  effort  or  to  secure  greater  or  better  effects 
with  equal  effort  counted  as  an  economic  gain, 
which  was  welcome  to  the  market.  For  instance, 
throughout  the  history  of  industry  we  find  the 
fundamental  tendency  to  transpose  all  activities 
from  the  great  muscles  to  the  small  muscles.  Any 
activity  which  is  performed  with  the  robust  mus- 
cles of  the  shoulder  when  it  can  be  done  with  the 
lower  arm,  or  labor  which  is  demanded  from  the 
muscles  of  the  lower  arm  when  it  can  just  as  well 
be  carried  out  by  the  fingers,  certainly  involves 
a  waste  of  psychophysical  energy.  A  stronger 
psychophysical  excitement  is  necessary  in  order  to 
secure  the  innervation  of  the  big  muscles  in  the 
central  nervous  system.  This  difference  in  the  stim- 
ulation of  the  various  muscle  groups  has  been  of 
significant  consequence  for  the  differentiation  of 
work  throughout  the  development  of  mankind. ^^ 

160 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

Labor  with  the  large  muscles  has,  for  these 
psychophysical  reasons,  never  been  easily  com- 
bined with  the  subtler  training  of  the  finer  mus- 
cles. Hence  a  social  organization  which  obliged 
the  men  to  give  their  energy  to  war  and  the  hunt, 
both,  in  primitive  life,  functions  of  the  strongest 
muscles,  made  it  necessary  for  the  domestic  activ- 
ities, which  are  essentially  functions  of  the  small 
muscles,  to  be  carried  out  by  women.  The  whole 
history  of  the  machine  demonstrates  this  econo- 
mic tendency  to  make  activities  dependent  upon 
those  muscles  which  presuppose  the  smallest 
psychophysical  effort.  It  is  not  only  the  smaller 
effort  which  gives  economic  advantage  to  the 
stimulation  of  the  smaller  muscles,  but  the  no  less 
important  circumstance  that  the  psychophysical 
after-effect  of  their  central  excitement  exerts  less 
inhibition  than  the  after-effect  of  the  brain  excite- 
ment for  the  big  muscles. 

But  we  must  not  overlook  another  feature  in 
the  development  of  technique.  The  machines 
have  been  constantly  transformed  in  the  direc- 
tion which  made  it  possible  to  secure  the  greatest 
help  from  the  natural  coordination  of  bodily 
movements.  The  physiological  organization  and 
the  psychophysical  conditions  of  the  nervous 
system  make  it  necessary  that  the  movement  im- 
pulses flow  over  into  motor  side  channels  and  thus 

161 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

produce  accessory  effects  without  any  special 
effort.  If  a  machine  is  so  constructed  that  these 
natural  accessory  movements  must  be  artificially 
and  intentionally  suppressed,  it  means,  on  the 
one  side,  a  waste  of  available  psychophysical 
energy,  and  on  the  other  side  it  demands  a  useless 
effort  in  order  to  secure  this  inhibition.  The  indus- 
trial development  has  moved  toward  both  the 
fructification  of  those  side  impulses  and  the  avoid- 
ance of  these  inhibitions.  It  has  adjusted  itself 
practically  to  the  natural  psychical  conditions. 
Ultimately  it  is  this  tendency  which  shaped  the 
technical  apparatus  for  the  economic  work  until 
the  muscle  movements  could  become  rhythmical. 
The  rhythmical  activity  necessarily  involves  a 
psychophysical  saving  and  this  saving  has  been 
instinctively  secured  throughout  the  history  of 
civilization.  All  rhythm  contains  a  repetition 
of  movement  without  making  a  real  repetition  of 
the  psychophysical  impulse  necessary.  In  the 
rhythmical  activity  a  large  part  of  the  first  ex- 
citement still  serves  for  the  second,  and  the  sec- 
ond for  the  third.  Inhibitions  fall  away  and  the 
mere  after-effect  of  each  stimulus  secures  a  great 
saving  for  the  new  impulse.  The  history  of  the 
machine  even  indicates  that  the  newer  technical 
development  not  only  found  the  far-reaching 
division  of  labor  already  in  the  workshops  of 

162 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

earlier  centuries,  but  a  no  less  far-reaching  rhyth- 
mization  of  the  labor  in  fine  adaptation  to  the  needs 
of  the  psychophysical  organism,  long  before  the 
appearance  of  the  machines.  The  beginnings  of 
the  machine  period  frequently  showed  nothing 
but  an  imitation  of  the  rhythmical  movements 
of  man. 2^  To  be  sure,  the  later  improvements 
of  the  machine  have  frequently  destroyed  that 
original  rhythm  of  man's  movement,  as  the  move- 
ment itself,  especially  in  the  electric  machines, 
has  become  so  quick  that  the  subjective  rhyth- 
mical experience  has  been  lost.  Moreover,  the 
rhythmical  horizontal  and  vertical  movements 
were  for  physical  reasons  usually  replaced  by 
uniform  circular  movements.  But  even  the  most 
highly  developed  machine  demands  human  activ- 
ity, for  instance,  for  the  supplying  with  material; 
and  this  again  has  opened  new  possibilities  for  the 
adjustment  of  technical  mechanism  to  the  eco- 
nomic demand  for  rhythmical  muscle  activity. 
The  growth  of  technical  devices  has  thus  been 
constantly  under  the  control  of  psychological  de- 
mands, in  spite  of  the  absence  of  systematic  psy- 
chological investigations.  But  the  decisive  factor 
was,  indeed,  that  these  psychological  motives 
always  remained  in  the  subconsciousness  of  civil- 
ization. The  improvements  were  consciously  re- 
ferred to  the  machine  as  such,  however  much  the 

163 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

practical  success  was  really  influenced  by  the  de- 
gree of  its  adjustment  to  the  mental  conditions  of 
the  workingmen.  The  new  movements  of  scien- 
tific management  and  of  experimental  psycho- 
logy aim  toward  bringing  this  adaptation  con- 
sciously into  the  foreground  and  toward  testing 
and  studying  systematically  what  technical  vari- 
ations can  best  suit  the  psychophysical  status  of 
man. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  achievements 
of  scientific  management  remember  that  by  no 
means  only  the  complicated  procedures  on  a  high 
level  are  in  question.  The  successes  are  often  the 
most  surprising  where  the  technique  is  old,  and 
where  it  might  have  been  imagined  that  the  ex- 
periences of  many  centuries  would  have  secured 
through  mere  common  sense  the  most  effective 
performance.  The  best-known  case  is  perhaps 
that  of  the  masons,  which  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
scientific  management  movement  has  studied  in 
all  its  details. ^^  The  movements  of  the  build- 
ers and  the  tools  which  they  use  were  examined 
with  scientific  exactitude  and  slowly  reshaped 
under  the  point  of  view  of  psychology  and  physi- 
ology. The  total  result  was  that  after  the  new 
method  30  masons  completed  without  greater 
fatigue  what  after  the  old  methods  it  would  have 
taken  100  masons  to  do,  and  that  the  total  ex- 

164 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

pense  for  the  building  was  reduced  to  less  than  a 
half  in  spite  of  the  steady  increase  of  the  wages 
of  the  laborers.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary 
that  exact  measurements  be  made  of  the  height 
at  which  the  bricks  were  lying  and  of  the  height  of 
the  wall  on  which  they  must  be  laid,  and  of  the 
number  of  bricks  which  should  be  carried  to  the 
masons  at  once.  He  studied  how  the  trowel 
should  be  shaped  and  how  the  mortar  should  be 
used  and  how  the  bricks  should  be  carried  to  the 
bricklayers.  In  short,  everything  which  usually 
is  left  to  tradition,  to  caprice,  and  to  an  economy 
which  looks  out  only  for  the  most  immediate  sav- 
ing, was  on  the  basis  of  experiments  of  many  years 
replaced  by  entirely  new  means  and  tools,  where 
nothing  was  left  to  arbitrariness.  Yet  these 
changes  did  not  demand  any  invention  or  phys- 
ically or  economically  new  ideas,  but  merely  a 
more  careful  adaptation  of  the  apparatus  to  the 
psychological  energies  of  the  masons.  The  new 
arrangement  permitted  a  better  organization  of 
the  necessary  bodily  movements,  fatigue  was 
diminished,  the  accessory  movements  were  better 
fructified,  fewer  inhibitions  were  necessary,  a  bet- 
ter playing  together  of  the  psychical  energies 
was  secured. 

The  students  of  scientific  management  stepped 
still  lower  in  the  scale  of  economic  activity.  There 

165 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

is  no  more  ordinary  productive  function  than 
shoveling.  Yet  in  great  establishments  the  shovel- 
ing of  coal  or  of  dirt  may  represent  an  econom- 
ically very  important  factor.  It  seems  that  up  to 
the  days  of  scientific  management,  no  one  really 
looked  carefully  into  the  technical  conditions 
under  which  the  greatest  possible  economic  ef- 
fect might  be  reached.  Now  the  act  of  shoveling 
was  approached  with  the  carefulness  with  which  a 
scholar  turns  to  any  subtle  process  in  his  labora- 
tory. The  brilliant  originator  of  the  scientific 
management  movement,  who  carried  out  these 
investigations  ^^  in  the  great  Bethlehem  Steel 
Works,  where  hundreds  of  laborers  had  to  shovel 
heavy  iron  ore  or  light  ashes,  found  that  the  usual 
chance  methods  involve  an  absurd  economic 
waste.  The  burden  was  sometimes  so  heavy  that 
rapid  fatigue  developed  and  the  movements  be- 
came too  slow,  or  the  lifted  mass  was  so  light  that 
the  larger  part  of  the  laborer's  energies  remained 
unused.  In  either  case  the  final  result  of  the  day's 
work  must  be  anti-economic.  He  therefore  tested 
with  carefully  graded  experiments  what  weight  en- 
sured the  most  favorable  achievement  by  a  strong 
healthy  workingman.  The  aim  was  to  find  the 
weight  which  would  secure  with  well-arranged 
pauses  the  maximum  product  in  one  day  without 
over-fatigue.    As  soon  as  this  weight  was  deter- 

166 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

mined ,  a  special  set  of  shovels  had  to  be  constructed 
for  every  particular  kind  of  material.  The  la- 
borers were  now  obliged  to  operate  with  10  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  shovels,  each  of  such  a  size  that 
the  burden  always  remained  an  average  of  21 
pounds  for  any  kind  of  material.  The  following 
step  was  an  exact  determination  of  the  most  favor- 
able rapidity  and  the  most  perfect  movement  of 
shoveling,  the  best  distribution  of  pauses,  and  so 
on,  and  the  final  outcome  was  that  only  140  men 
were  needed  where  on  the  basis  of  the  old  plan 
about  500  laborers  had  been  engaged.  The  aver- 
age workingman  who  had  previously  shoveled  16 
tons  of  material,  now  managed  59  tons  without 
greater  fatigue.  The  wages  were  raised  by  two 
thirds  and  the  expenses  for  shoveling  a  ton  of 
material  were  decreased  one  half.  This  calculation 
of  expenses  included,  of  course,  a  consideration  of 
the  increased  cost  for  tools  and  for  the  salaries 
of  the  scientific  managers. 

Whoever  visits  factories  in  which  the  new  sys- 
tem has  been  introduced  by  real  specialists  must 
be  surprised,  indeed,  by  the  great  effects  which 
often  result  from  the  better  psychophysical  adap- 
tation of  the  simplest  and  apparently  most  in- 
different tools  and  means.  As  far  as  the  compli- 
cated machines  are  concerned,  we  are  accustomed 
to  a  steady  improvement  by  the  efforts  of  the 

167 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

technicians  and  we  notice  it  rather  httle  if  the 
changes  in  them  are  introduced  for  psychological 
instead  of  the  usual  physical  reasons.  But  the  fact 
that  even  the  least  complicated  and  most  indif- 
ferent devices  can  undergo  most  influential  im- 
provements, as  soon  as  they  are  seriously  studied 
from  a  psychological  point  of  view,  remains  really 
a  source  for  surprise.  Sometimes  no  more  is 
needed  than  a  change  in  the  windows  or  in  the 
electric  lamps,  by  which  the  light  can  fall  on  the 
work  in  a  psychologically  satisfactory  way ;  some- 
times long  series  of  experiments  have  to  be  made 
with  a  simple  hammer  or  knife  or  table.  Often 
everything  must  be  arranged  against  the  wishes 
of  the  workingmen,  who  feel  any  deviation  from 
the  accustomed  conditions  as  a  disturbance  which 
is  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  In  one  concern 
I  heard  that  the  scientific  manager  became  con- 
vinced that  all  the  working-chairs  for  the  women 
were  too  low  and  that  the  laborers  therefore  had 
to  hold  their  arms  in  a  psychophysically  unfavor- 
able position  during  the  handling  of  the  apparatus. 
All  were  strongly  opposed  to  the  introduction  of 
higher  chairs.  The  result  was  that  the  manager 
arranged  for  the  chairs  to  be  raised  a  few  milli- 
meters every  evening,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  working-women,  as  soon  as  the  factory  was 
empty.  After  a  few  weeks  the  chairs  had  reached 

168 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

the  right  height  without  those  engaged  in  the  work 
having  noticed  it  at  all.  The  outcome  was  a  de- 
cided increase  of  eflSciency. 

But  the  most  rational  scheme  will  after  all  be 
to  prepare  for  such  arrangements  of  tools  and 
apparatus  by  systematic  experiments  in  the 
psychological  laboratory.  The  subtlety  of  such 
investigations  will  lead  far  beyond  the  point 
which  is  accessible  to  the  attempts  of  scientific 
management.  Exact  experiments  on  attention, 
for  instance,  will  have  to  determine  how  the  va- 
rious parts  of  the  apparatus  are  to  be  distributed 
best  in  space  if  the  laborer  must  keep  watch  for 
disturbances  at  various  places.  Only  the  labora- 
tory experiment  can  find  the  most  favorable 
speed  of  the  machine  or  can  select  the  muscles  to 
which  the  mind  can  send  the  most  effective  im- 
pulses. The  construction  of  the  machine  must 
then  be  adapted  to  such  results.  In  the  Har- 
vard laboratory,  for  instance,  a  practical  question 
led  us  to  examine  which  fingers  would  allow 
the  quickest  alternation  of  key  movements. ^^ 
If  any  two  of  the  ten  fingers  perform  for  ten 
seconds  the  quickest  possible  alternation  of  mo- 
tion, as  in  a  trill,  the  experiment  can  demon- 
strate exactly  the  differences  between  the  various 
combinations  of  fingers  and  the  individual  fluc- 
tuations for  these  differences.   With  an  electrical 

169 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

registration  of  the  movements  of  the  alternating 
fingers  we  studied  in  hundredths  of  a  second 
the  time  for  the  motions  of  two  hands  and  of 
fingers  of  the  same  hand,  in  order  to  adjust  the 
keys  of  a  certain  machine  to  the  most  favorable 
impulses. 

We  approach  this  group  of  problems  from  an- 
other side  when  we  test  the  relations  of  various 
kinds  of  machines  to  various  mental  types.  Psy- 
chologists have  studied,  for  example,  the  various 
styles  of  typewriting  machines. ^°  From  a  purely 
commercial  point  of  view  the  merits  of  one  or  an- 
other machine  are  praised  as  if  they  were  advan- 
tageous for  every  possible  human  being.  The 
fact  is  that  such  advantages  for  one  may  be 
disadvantages  for  another  on  account  of  differ- 
ences in  the  mental  disposition.  One  man  may 
write  more  quickly  on  one,  another  on  another 
machine.  As  every  one  knows,  the  chief  differ- 
ence is  that  of  the  keyboard  and  that  of  the  visible 
or  invisible  writing.  Machines  like  the  Reming- 
ton machine  work  with  a  shift  key;  that  is,  a 
special  key  must  be  pressed  when  capital  letters 
are  to  be  written.  Other  machines  like  the 
Oliver  even  demand  double  shifting,  one  key  for 
the  capital  letters,  and  one  for  the  figures,  and  so 
on.  On  the  other  hand,  machines  like  the  Smith 
Premier  have  no  shift  key,  but  a  double  keyboard. 

170 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

It  is  evident  that  both  the  shift-key  arrangement 
and  the  double  keyboard  have  their  particular 
psychological  advantages. 

The  single  alphabet  demands  much  less  from 
the  optical  memory,  and  the  corresponding  motor 
inner  attitude  of  consciousness  is  adjusted  to  a 
smaller  number  of  possibilities.  But  the  pressure 
on  the  shift  key,  which  goes  with  the  single  al- 
phabet, is  not  only  a  time-wasting  act;  from  the 
psychological  point  of  view  it  is  first  of  all  a  very 
strong  interruption  of  the  uniform  chain  of  im- 
pulses. If  the  capital  and  small  letters  are  writ- 
ten for  a  minute  alternatingly  with  the  greatest 
possible  speed,  the  experiment  shows  that  the 
number  of  letters  for  the  machine  with  the 
double  alphabet  is  about  three  times  greater  than 
for  the  machine  with  simple  alphabet  and  shift 
key.  Both  systems  accordingly  have  their  psy- 
chological advantages  and  disadvantages.  Hu- 
man beings  of  distinct  visual  ideational  type  or  of 
highly  developed  motor  type  will  prefer  the  double 
alphabet,  provided,  of  course,  that  the  touch  sys- 
tem of  writing  is  learned,  and  this  will  be  espe- 
cially true  if  their  inner  attitude  is  easily  disturbed 
by  interruptions.  But  those  who  have  a  feebly 
developed  optical  mental  centre  and  who  have 
small  ability  for  the  development  of  complex 
motor  habits  will  be  more  eflBcient  on  the  ma- 

171 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

chines  with  the  single  alphabet,  especially  if  their 
nervous  system  is  little  molested  by  interruptions 
and  thus  undisturbed  by  the  intrusion  of  the  shift 
key  act. 

In  a  similar  way  the  visibility  of  the  writing 
will  be  for  certain  individuals  the  most  valuable 
condition  for  quick  writing,  while  for  others,  who 
depend  less  upon  visual  support,  it  may  mean 
rather  a  distraction  and  an  interference  with  the 
speediest  work.  The  visible  writing  attracts  the 
involuntary  attention,  and  thus  forces  conscious- 
ness to  stick  to  that  which  has  been  written  in- 
stead of  being  concentrated  on  that  which  is  to 
be  produced  by  the  next  writing  movements.  The 
operator  himself  is  not  aware  of  this  hindrance. 
On  the  contrary,  the  public  will  always  be  in- 
clined to  prefer  the  typewriters  with  visible  writ- 
ing, because  by  a  natural  confusion  the  feeling 
arises  that  the  production  of  the  letter  is  some- 
what facilitated,  when  the  eye  is  cooperating, 
just  as  in  writing  with  a  pen  we  follow  the  lines 
of  the  written  letter.  But  the  situation  lies  differ- 
ently in  the  two  cases.  When  we  are  writing  with 
a  pen,  the  letter  grows  under  our  eyes,  while  in 
the  machine  writing  we  do  not  see  any  part  of 
the  letter  until  the  whole  movement  which  pro- 
duces the  single  letter  is  finished.  By  such  a  mis- 
leading analogy  many  a  man  is  led  to  prefer  the 

172 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

typewriter  with  visible  writing,  while  he  would 
probably  secure  a  greater  speed  with  a  machine 
which  does  not  tempt  him  to  attend  the  completed 
letters,  while  his  entire  attention  ought  to  belong 
to  the  following  letters. 

These  last  observations  point  to  another  psy- 
chological aspect  of  the  machine  and  of  the  whole 
technical  work,  namely,  their  relations  to  the 
impressions  of  the  senses.  The  so-called  dynamo- 
genie  experiments  of  the  psychological  laboratory 
have  demonstrated  what  a  manifold  influence 
flows  from  the  sense-impressions  to  the  will- 
impulses.  If  the  muscle  contraction  of  a  man's 
fist  is  measured,  the  experiment  shows  that  the 
strongest  possible  pressure  may  be  very  different 
when  the  visual  field  appears  in  different  colors, 
or  tones  of  different  pitch  or  different  noises  are 
stimulating  the  ear,  and  so  on.  As  yet  no  sys- 
tematic experiments  exist  by  which  such  results 
can  be  brought  into  relation  to  the  sense-stimuK 
which  reach  the  laborer  during  his  technical  work. 
The  psychophysical  effect  of  colors  and  noises  has 
not  been  fructified  at  all  for  industrial  purposes. 
The  mere  subjective  judgment  of  the  working- 
man  himself  cannot  be  acknowledged  as  reliable 
in  such  questions.  The  laborer,  for  instance,  usu- 
ally believes  that  a  noise  to  which  he  has  become 
accustomed  does  not  disturb  him  in  his  work, 

173 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

while  experimental  results  point  strongly  to  the 
contrary.  In  a  similar  way  the  effect  of  colored 
windows  may  appear  indifferent  to  the  workmen, 
and  yet  may  have  considerable  influence  on  his 
efficiency.  Numberless  performances  in  the  fac- 
tory are  reactions  on  certain  optical  or  acoustical 
or  tactual  signals.  Both  the  engineer  and  the 
workman  are  satisfied  if  such  a  signal  is  clearly 
perceivable.  The  psychological  laboratory  experi- 
ment, however,  shows  that  the  whole  psycho- 
physical effect  depends  upon  the  character  of  the 
signal;  a  more  intense  light,  a  quicker  change, 
a  higher  tone,  a  larger  field  of  light,  a  louder  noise, 
or  a  harder  touch  may  produce  a  very  different 
kind  of  reaction. 

With  a  careful  time-measurement  of  the  mo- 
tions, it  can  often  be  directly  traced  how  purely 
technical  processes  in  the  machine  itself  influence 
and  control  the  whole  psychical  system  of  im- 
pulses in  the  man.  I  observed,  in  a  factory,  for 
instance,  the  work  at  a  machine  which  performed 
most  of  its  functions  automatically.  It  had  to 
hammer  fine  grooves  into  small  metal  plates.  A 
young  laborer  stood  before  every  such  machine, 
took  from  a  pile,  alternately  from  the  right  and 
from  the  left,  the  little  plates  to  be  serrated, 
placed  them  in  the  machine,  turned  a  lever  to 
bring  the  hammer  into  motion,  and  then  removed 

174 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

the  serrated  plates.  The  speed  of  the  work  was 
dependent  upon  the  operative,  as  he  determined 
by  his  lever  movement  the  instant  at  which  the 
automatic  serrating  hammer  should  be  released. 
The  man's  activity  demanded  9  independent 
movements.  I  found  that  those  who  worked  the 
most  quickly  were  able  to  carry  out  this  labor  for 
hours  at  a  uniform  rapidity  of  4  to  4|  seconds  for 
those  9  movements.  But  the  time-measurement 
showed  that  even  these  fastest  workers  were  re- 
latively slow  in  the  first  5  movements  which  they 
made  while  the  machine  stood  quiet,  and  that 
they  reached  an  astonishing  quickness  of  move- 
ment in  the  4  last  actions  during  which  at  the 
same  time  the  serrating  hammer  in  bewildering 
rapidity  was  beating  on  the  plate  with  sharp  loud 
cracks.  The  hammer  reinforced  the  energy  of  the 
young  laborers  to  an  effectiveness  which  could 
never  have  been  attained  by  mere  voluntary 
effort. 

Often  the  simplicity  or  complication  of  the 
stimulus  may  be  decisive  in  importance,  and  this 
also  holds  true  where  the  most  elementary  re- 
actions are  involved,  for  instance,  the  mere  act 
of  counting  which  enters  into  many  industrial 
functions.  Experiments  carried  on  in  my  lab- 
oratory^^ have  shown  that  the  time  needed  to 
count  a  certain  number  of  units  becomes  longer 

175 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

as  soon  as  the  units  themselves  become  more 
complicated.  Their  inner  manifoldness  exerts  a 
retarding  influence  on  the  eye  as  it  moves  from 
one  figure  to  another.  A  certain  psychical  in- 
hibition arises ;  the  mind  is  held  back  by  the  com- 
plexity of  the  impression  and  cannot  proceed 
quickly  enough  to  the  next.  Psychologically  no 
less  important  is  the  demand  that  the  external 
technical  conditions  so  far  as  they  influence  con- 
sciousness, should  remain  as  far  as  possible  the 
same,  if  the  same  psychical  effect  is  desired,  be- 
cause then  only  can  a  perfectly  firm  connection 
between  stimulus  and  movement  be  formed.  In 
technical  life  this  demand  is  much  sinned  against. 
A  typical  case  is  that  of  the  signals  for  which  the 
engineer  on  the  locomotive  has  to  watch.  In  the 
daytime  the  movable  arms  of  the  semaphore  in- 
dicate by  their  horizontal,  oblique,  or  vertical 
position  whether  the  tracks  are  clear.  At  night- 
time, on  the  other  hand,  the  same  information 
reaches  him  by  the  different  colors  of  the  signal 
lanterns.  From  a  psychical  point  of  view  it  is 
probable  that  the  safety  of  the  service  would  be 
increased  if  an  unchangeable  connection  between 
signal  and  movement  were  formed.  It  would  be 
sufficient  for  that  purpose  if  the  color  signals  at 
night  were  given  up  and  were  replaced  by  hori- 
zontal, oblique,  or  vertical  lines  of  white  light  or 

176 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

rows  of  points.  Successful  experiments  of  this 
kind  have  been  carried  on  by  psychologists  in  the 
service  of  this  railroad  problem. ^^ 

The  interest  in  all  these  problems  of  large  con- 
cerns, in  transportation  and  factory  work  and 
complex  industries,  ought  not  to  make  us  over- 
look the  fact  that  on  principle  the  same  problems 
can  be  found  in  the  simplest  industrial  establish- 
ment. Even  the  housewife  or  the  cook  destroys 
economic  values  if  daily  she  has  to  spend  useless 
minutes  or  hours  on  account  of  arrangements  in 
the  household  which  are  badly  adjusted  to  the 
psychological  conditions.  She  sacrifices  her  energy 
in  vain  and  she  wastes  her  means  where  she  her- 
self is  under  the  illusion  of  especial  economy. 
Scientific  management  would  perhaps  be  no- 
where so  wholesome  as  in  kitchen  and  pantry,  in 
laundry  and  cellar,  just  because  here  the  saving 
would  be  multiplied  millionfold  and  the  final  sum 
of  energy  saved  and  of  feeling  values  gained  would 
be  enormous,  even  if  it  could  not  be  calculated 
with  the  exactitude  with  which  the  savings  of  a 
factory  budget  can  be  proven.  The  profusion 
of  small  attractive  devices  which  automatically 
perform  the  economic  household  labor  and  dis- 
burden the  human  workers  must  not  hide  the 
fact  that  the  chief  activities  are  still  little  adjusted 
to  the  psychophysical  conditions.    The  situation 

177 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

is  similar  to  that  of  the  masons,  whose  function 
has  also  been  performed  for  thousands  of  years, 
and  yet  which  did  not  find  a  real  adaptation  to 
the  psychical  factors  until  a  systematic  time- 
measuring  study  was  introduced.  A  manufacturer 
who  sells  an  improved  pan  or  mixing-spoon  or 
broom  expects  success  if  he  brings  to  the  market 
something  the  merits  of  which  are  evident  and 
make  the  housewife  anticipate  a  decrease  of  work 
or  a  simplification  of  work,  but  the  development 
of  scientific  management  has  shown  clearly  that 
the  most  important  improvements  are  just  those 
which  are  deduced  from  scientific  researches, 
without  at  first  giving  satisfaction  to  the  laborers 
themselves,  until  a  new  habit  has  been  formed. 

Perhaps  the  most  frequent  technical  activity 
of  this  simple  kind  is  sewing  by  hand,  which  is 
still  entirely  left  to  the  traditions  of  common 
sense,  and  yet  which  is  evidently  dependent  upon 
the  interplay  of  many  psychical  factors  which  de- 
mand a  subtle  adaptation  to  the  psychical  con- 
ditions. To  approach,  at  least,  this  field  of  human 
labor  a  careful  investigation  of  the  psychophysics 
of  sewing  has  been  started  in  my  laboratory.^' 
The  sewing  work  is  done,  with  the  left  hand  sup- 
ported, and  the  right  hand  connected  with  a  sys- 
tem of  levers  which  make  a  graphic  record  of 
every  movement  on  the  smoked  surface  of  a  re- 

178 


THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  CONDITIONS 

volving  drum.  For  instance,  we  begin  with  simple 
over  and  over  stitches,  measuring  the  time  and 
the  character  of  the  right  hand  movements  for  50 
stitches  mider  a  variety  of  technical  conditions. 
The  first  variation  refers  to  the  length  of  the 
thread.  The  thread  itself,  fixed  at  the  needle's 
eye,  varied  between  3  feet  and  6  inches  in  length. 
Other  changes  refer  to  the  voluntary  speed,  to 
the  number  of  stitches,  to  fatigue,  to  external 
stimuli,  to  attention,  to  methods  of  training,  and 
so  on,  but  the  chief  interest  remains  centred  on 
the  psychical  factors.  We  are  still  too  much  at 
the  beginning  already  to  foresee  whether  it  will 
be  possible  to  draw  from  these  psychophysical 
experiments  helpful  conclusions.  The  four  young 
women  engaged  in  this  laboratory  research  will 
later  extend  it  to  the  psychological  conditions  of 
work  with  the  various  types  of  sewing-machines. 


XV 

THE   ECONOMY   OF    MOVEMENT 

THE  study  of  the  technical  aspect  of  labor 
can  nowhere  be  separated  by  a  sharp  de- 
marcation line  from  the  study  of  the  labor  itself 
as  a  function  of  the  individual  organism.  Many 
problems,  indeed,  extend  in  both  directions.  The 
student  of  industrial  eflBciency  is,  for  instance, 
constantly  led  to  the  question  of  fatigue.  He  may 
consider  this  fatigue  as  a  function  of  brain  and 
muscle  activity  and  discuss  it  with  reference  to 
the  psychophysical  effort,  but  he  is  equally  inter- 
ested in  the  question  of  how  far  the  apparatus 
or  the  machine  or  the  accessory  conditions  of  the 
work  might  be  changed  in  order  to  avoid  fatigue. 
The  accidents  of  the  electric  street  railways  were 
regarded  as  partly  related  to  fatigue.  The  prob- 
lem was  accordingly  how  to  shorten  the  working 
time  of  the  motormen  in  the  interest  of  the  pub- 
lic, but  it  was  soon  recognized  that  the  difficulty 
might  also  be  approached  from  the  mere  technical 
side.  Some  companies  introduced  seats  which  the 
motormen  can  use  whenever  they  feel  fatigue 
coming  and  excellent  results  have  followed  this 
innovation.   In  our  last  discussions  the  technical 

180 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  MOVEMENT 

apparatus  stood  in  the  foreground.  We  may  now 
consider  as  our  real  topic  the  psychophysical  ac- 
tivity. 

Here,  too,  the  leaders  of  scientific  management 
have  secured  some  signal  successes.  Their  chief 
effort  in  this  field  was  directed  toward  the  greatest 
possible  achievement  by  eliminating  all  superflu- 
ous movements  and  by  training  in  those  move- 
ment combinations  which  were  recognized  as  the 
most  serviceable  ones.  We  may  return  to  the  case 
of  the  masons  in  order  to  clear  up  the  principle. 
When  Gilbreth  began  to  reform  the  labor  of  the 
mason  after  scientific  principles,  he  gave  his  chief 
interest  to  the  men's  motions.  Every  muscle 
contraction  which  was  needed  to  move  the  brick 
from  the  pile  in  the  yard  to  the  final  position  in 
the  wall  was  measured  with  reference  to  space- 
and  time-relations  and  the  necessary  effort.  From 
here  he  turned  to  the  application  of  well-known 
psychophysical  principles.  A  movement  is  less 
fatiguing  and  therefore  economically  most  profit- 
able if  it  occurs  in  a  direction  in  which  the  greatest 
possible  use  of  gravitation  can  be  made.  If  both 
hands  have  to  act  at  the  same  time,  the  labor  can 
be  carried  out  most  quickly  and  with  the  small- 
est effort  if  corresponding  muscle  groups  are  at 
work  and  this  means  if  symmetrical  movements 
are  performed.    If  unequal  movements  have  to 

181 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

be  made  simultaneously,  the  effort  will  become 
smaller  if  they  are  psychically  bound  together  by 
a  common  unified  impulse.  The  distance  which 
has  to  be  overcome  by  hands,  arms,  or  feet  must 
be  brought  to  a  minimum  for  each  partial  move- 
ment. Most  important,  however,  is  this  rule.  If 
a  definite  combination  of  movements  has  been 
determined  as  economically  most  suitable,  this 
method  must  be  applied  without  any  exception 
from  the  beginning  of  the  learning.  The  point  is 
to  train  from  the  start  those  impulse  combina- 
tions which  can  slowly  lead  to  the  quickest  and 
best  work.  The  usual  method  is  the  opposite. 
Generally  the  beginner  learns  to  produce  from 
the  beginning  work  which  is  as  good  and  correct 
as  possible.  In  order  to  produce  such  qualitat- 
ively good  results  at  an  early  stage,  it  is  left  to 
him  to  choose  any  groups  of  movements  which 
happen  to  be  convenient  to  him.  Then  these  be- 
come habitual,  and  as  soon  as  he  tries  to  go  on 
to  quicker  work,  these  chance  habits  hinder  him 
in  his  progress.  The  movements  which  may  be 
best  suited  for  fair  production  by  a  beginner  may 
be  entirely  unsuited  for  really  quick  work,  such 
as  would  be  expected  from  an  experienced  man. 
The  laborer  must  replace  the  first  habits  which  he 
has  learned  by  a  new  set,  instead  of  starting  in  the 
first  place  with  motions  which  can  be  continued 

182 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  MOVEMENT 

until  the  highest  point  of  efficiency  has  been 
reached,  even  if  this  involves  rather  a  poor  show- 
ing at  the  beginning.  A  final  maximum  rapidity 
must  be  secured  from  the  start  by  the  choice  of 
those  motions  which  have  been  standardized  by 
careful  experiments. 

It  is  also  psychophysically  important  to  de- 
mand that  the  movements  shall  not  be  suddenly 
stopped,  if  that  can  be  avoided.  Any  interruption 
of  a  movement  presupposes  a  special  effort  of  the 
will  which  absorbs  energy,  and  after  the  interrup- 
tion a  new  start  must  be  made  of  which  the  same 
is  true.  On  the  other  hand,  if  chains  of  movements 
become  habitual,  the  psj^chophysical  effort  will 
be  reduced  to  the  minimum,  inasmuch  as  each 
movement  finds  its  natural  end  and  is  not  artifi- 
cially interrupted  by  will,  and  at  the  same  time 
each  movement  itself  becomes  a  stimulus  for  the 
next  movement  by  its  accompanying  sensations. 
The  traditional  method,  for  instance,  demands 
that  a  brick  be  lifted  with  one  hand  and  a  trowel 
with  mortar  by  the  other  hand.  After  that  the 
lifting  movement  is  interrupted,  the  brick  comes 
to  rest  in  the  hand  of  the  mason  until  the  mortar 
has  been  spread  on  and  the  place  prepared  for 
the  new  brick.  Then  only  begins  a  new  action 
with  the  brick.  This  method  was  fundamentally 
changed.  The  laborers  learned  to  swing  the  brick 

183 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

with  one  hand  from  the  pack  to  the  wall  and  at 
the  same  time  to  distribute  the  mortar  over  the 
next  brick  with  the  other  hand.  This  whole  com- 
plex movement  is  of  course  more  difficult  and  de- 
mands a  somewhat  longer  period  of  learning,  but 
as  soon  as  it  is  learned  an  extreme  saving  of  psy- 
chophysical energy  and  a  correspondingly  great 
economic  gain  is  secured.  The  newly  trained  ma- 
sons are  not  even  allowed  to  gather  up  with  the 
trowel  any  mortar  which  falls  to  the  floor,  be- 
cause it  was  found  that  the  loss  of  mortar  is  eco- 
nomically less  important  than  the  waste  of  psy- 
chophysical energy  in  bending  down. 

Whoever  has  once  schooled  his  eye  to  observe 
the  limitless  waste  of  human  motions  and  psycho- 
physical efforts  in  social  life  has  really  no  difficulty 
in  perceiving  all  this  at  every  step.  This  ability 
to  recognize  possible  savings  of  impulse  may  be 
brought  to  a  certain  virtuosity.  Gilbreth,  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  new  movement,  seems  to  be 
such  a  virtuoso.  When  he  was  in  London,  there 
was  pointed  out  to  him  in  the  Japanese  British 
Exhibition  a  young  girl  who  worked  so  quickly 
that  there  at  least  he  would  find  a  rhythm  of 
finger  movement  which  could  not  any  further  be 
improved.  In  an  exhibition  booth  the  woman  at- 
tached advertisement  labels  to  boxes  with  phenom- 
enal rapidity.  Gilbreth  watched  her  for  a  little 

184 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   MOVEMENT 

while  and  found  that  she  was  able  to  manage  24 
boxes  in  40  seconds.  Then  he  told  the  young  girl 
that  she  was  doing  it  wrongly,  and  that  she  ought 
to  try  a  new  way  which  he  showed  her.  At  the 
first  attempt,  she  disposed  of  24  boxes  in  26  sec- 
onds and  at  the  second  trial  in  20  seconds.  She 
did  not  have  to  make  more  effort  for  it,  but  simply 
had  fewer  movements  to  make.  If  such  economic 
gain  can  be  secured  with  little  exertion  in  the 
simplest  processes,  it  cannot  be  surprising  that 
in  the  case  of  more  complex  and  more  advanced 
technical  work  which  involves  highly  skilled  la- 
bor, a  careful  psychophysical  study  of  motions 
must  bring  far-reaching  economic  improvements. 
Yet  the  more  important  steps  will  have  to  be 
guided  by  special  experimental  investigations,  and 
here  the  psychological  laboratory  must  undertake 
the  elaboration  of  the  details.  Only  the  system- 
atic experiment  can  determine  what  impulses  can 
be  released  at  the  least  expense  of  energy  and 
with  the  greatest  exactitude  of  the  motor  effect. 
Investigations  on  the  psychophysics  of  move- 
ment and  the  influences  which  lead  toward  making 
the  movement  too  large  or  too  small  have  played 
an  important  role  in  the  psychological  laboratories 
for  several  decades.  It  was  recognized  early  that 
the  mistakes  which  are  made  in  reproducing  a 
movement  may  spring  from  two  different  sources. 

185 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

They  result  partly  from  an  erroneous  perception 
or  memory  of  the  movement  carried  out,  and 
partly  from  the  inability  to  realize  the  movement 
intention.  One  series  of  investigations  was  ac- 
cordingly devoted  to  the  studies  of  those  sensa- 
tions and  perceptions  by  which  we  become  aware 
of  the  actual  movement.  Everything  which  ac- 
centuates these  sensations  must  lead  to  an  over- 
estimation  of  the  motion,  and  the  outcome  is  that 
the  movement  is  made  too  small.  The  concentra- 
tion of  attention,  therefore,  has  the  effect  of  re- 
ducing the  actual  motion,  and  the  same  influence 
must  result  from  any  resistance  which  is  not  re- 
cognized as  such  and  hence  is  not  subtracted  in 
the  judgment  of  the  perceiver.  Another  series  of 
researches  was  concerned  with  the  inner  attitude 
which  causes  a  certain  external  movement  effect 
and  which  may  lead  to  an  unintended  amount  of 
movement  as  soon  as  the  weight  to  be  lifted  is 
erroneously  judged  upon.  Closely  related  studies, 
finally,  deal  with  a  mistake  which  enters  when 
the  movement  is  reproduced  from  memory  after 
a  certain  time.  The  exactitude  of  a  simple  arm 
movement  seems  to  increase  in  the  first  ten  se- 
conds, then  rapidly  to  decrease.  The  emotional 
attitude,  too,  is  of  importance  for  the  reproduc- 
tion of  a  movement.  I  trained  myself  in  making 
definite  extensor  and  flexor  movements  of  the 

186 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  MOVEMENT 

arm  until  I  was  able  to  reproduce  them  under  nor- 
mal conditions  with  great  exactitude.  In  experi- 
ments extending  over  many  months,  which  were 
carried  on  through  the  changing  emotional  atti- 
tudes of  daily  life,  the  exact  measurement  showed 
that  both  groups  of  movements  became  too  large 
in  states  of  excitement  and  too  small  in  states  of 
fatigue.  But  in  a  state  of  satisfaction  and  joy  the 
extensor  movement  became  too  large,  the  flexor 
movement  too  small,  and  vice  versa,  in  unpleasant 
emotional  states  the  flexor  movement  was  too 
strong  and  the  extensor  movement  too  weak.^'* 

We  have  a  very  careful  investigation  into  the 
relations  between  rapidity  of  movement  and 
exactitude. ^^  The  subjects  had  to  perform  a 
hand  movement  simultaneously  with  the  beat  of 
a  metronome,  the  beats  of  which  varied  between 
20  and  200  in  the  minute.  In  general  the  accuracy 
of  the  movement  decreases  as  the  rapidity  in- 
creases, but  the  descent  is  not  uniform.  Motions 
in  the  rhythm  of  40  to  the  minute  were  on  the 
whole  just  as  exact  as  those  in  the  rhythm  of  20, 
and,  on  the  other  hand  movements  in  the  rhythm 
of  200  almost  as  accurate  as  those  of  140  to  the 
minute.  Thus  we  have  a  lower  limit  below  which 
decrease  of  rapidity  does  not  increase  the  accur- 
acy any  further,  and  an  upper  limit  beyond  which 
a  further  increase  of  rapidity  brings   no  addi- 

187 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

tional  deterioration.  The  mistakes  of  the  unskilled 
left  hand  increase  still  more  rapidly  than  the  num- 
ber of  movements.  If  the  eyes  are  closed,  the 
rapid  movements  are  usually  too  long  and  the  slow 
ones  too  short. 

An  investigation  in  the  Harvard  laboratory 
varied  this  problem  in  a  direction  which  brings  it 
still  nearer  to  technical  conditions  of  industry. 
Our  central  question  was  whether  the  greatest 
exactitude  of  rhythmical  movement  is  secured  at 
the  same  rapidity  for  different  muscle  groups.^* 
We  studied  especially  rhythmical  movements  of 
hand,  foot,  arm,  and  head,  and  studied  them, 
moreover,  under  various  conditions  of  resistance. 
The  result  from  340,000  measured  movements 
was  the  demonstration  that  every  muscle  group 
has  its  own  optimum  of  rapidity  for  the  greatest 
possible  accuracy  and  that  the  complexity  of  the 
movement  and  the  resistance  which  it  finds  has 
most  significant  influence  on  the  exactitude  of  the 
rhythmical  achievement.  If  we  abstract  at  first 
from  the  fluctuations  around  the  average  value 
of  a  particular  group  of  movements  and  con- 
sider only  this  average  itself  in  its  relation  to  the 
starting  movement  which  it  is  meant  to  imitate, 
we  find  characteristic  tendencies  toward  enlarge- 
ment or  reduction  dependent  upon  the  rapidity. 
The  right  foot,  for  instance,  remained  nearest 

188 


THE  ECONOMY   OF  MOVEMENT 

to  the  original  movement  at  a  rapidity  of  80 
motions  in  the  minute,  while  the  head  did  the 
same  at  about  20.  For  a  hand  movement  of  14 
centimeters,  the  most  favorable  rapidity  was  120 
repetitions  in  the  minute,  while  for  a  hand  move- 
ment of  1  centimeter  the  average  remained  near- 
est to  the  standard  at  about  40  repetitions.  The 
mean  variation  from  the  average  is  the  smallest 
for  the  left  foot  at  20  to  30  movements,  for  the 
right  at  160  to  180,  for  the  head  at  40,  for  the 
larger  hand  movement  at  180,  and  so  on.  Investi- 
gations of  this  kind  have  so  far  not  affected  in- 
dustrial life  in  the  least,  but  it  seems  hardly 
doubtful  that  a  systematic  study  of  the  move- 
ments necessary  for  economic  work  will  have  to 
pass  through  such  strictly  experimental  phases. 
The  essential  point,  however,  will  be  for  the  man- 
agers of  the  industrial  concerns  and  the  psycho- 
logical laboratory  workers  really  to  come  nearer 
to  each  other  from  the  start  and  undertake  the 
work  in  common,  not  in  the  sense  that  the  labora- 
tory is  to  emigrate  to  the  factory,  but  in  the  bet- 
ter sense  that  definite  questions  which  grow  out 
of  the  industrial  life  be  submitted  to  the  scientific 
investigation  of  the  psychologists. 


XVI 

EXPERIMENTS  ON  THE  PROBLEM  OF  MONOTONY 

THE  systematic  organization  of  movements 
with  most  careful  regard  to  the  psycho- 
physical conditions  appeared  to  us  the  most  mo- 
mentous aid  toward  the  heightening  of  efficiency. 
But  even  if  the  superfluous,  unfit,  and  interfering 
movement  impulses  were  eliminated  and  the  con- 
ditions of  work  completely  adjusted  to  the  de- 
mands of  psychology,  there  would  still  remain 
a  large  number  of  possibilities  through  which  pro- 
ductiveness might  be  greatly  decreased,  or  at  least 
kept  far  below  the  possible  maximum  of  efficiency. 
For  instance,  even  the  best  adapted  labor  might 
be  repeated  to  the  point  of  exhaustion,  at  which 
the  workman  and  the  work  would  be  ruined. 
Fatigue  and  restoration  accordingly  demand  es- 
pecial consideration.  In  a  similar  way  emotions 
may  be  conditions  of  stimulation  or  interference, 
and  no  one  ought  to  underestimate  the  import- 
ance of  higher  motives,  intellectual,  aesthetic,  and 
moral  motives,  in  their  bearing  on  the  psycho- 
physical impulses  of  the  laborer.  If  these  higher 
demands  are  satisfied,  the  whole  system  gains  a 
new  tonus,  and  if  they  are  disappointed,  the  irri- 

190 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  MONOTONY 

tation  of  the  mental  machinery  may  do  more 
harm  than  any  break  in  the  physical  machine  at 
which  the  man  is  working.  In  short,  we  must  still 
look  in  various  directions  to  become  aware  of  all 
the  relations  between  the  psychological  factors 
and  the  economic  output.  We  may  begin  with 
one  question  which  plays  a  large,  perhaps  too 
large,  role  in  the  economic  and  especially  in  the 
popular  economic  literature.  I  refer  to  the  pro- 
blem of  monotony  of  labor. 

In  the  discourses  of  our  time  on  the  lights  and 
shades  of  our  modern  industrial  life,  all  seem  to 
agree  that  the  monotony  of  industrial  labor  ought 
to  be  entered  on  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger  of 
civilization.  Since  the  days  when  factories  began 
to  spring  up,  the  accusation  that  through  the 
process  of  division  of  labor  the  industrial  working- 
man  no  longer  has  any  chance  to  see  a  whole 
product,  but  that  he  has  to  devote  himself  to  the 
minutest  part  of  a  part,  has  remained  one  of  the 
matter-of-course  arguments.  The  part  of  a  part 
which  he  has  to  cut  or  polish  or  shape  in  endless 
repetition  without  alteration  cannot  awake  any 
real  interest.  This  complete  division  of  labor  has 
to-day  certainly  gone  far  beyond  anything  which 
Adam  Smith  described,  and  therefore  it  now  ap- 
pears undeniable  that  the  method  must  create 
a  mental  starvation  which  presses  down  the  whole 

191 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

life  of  the  laborer,  deprives  it  of  all  joy  in  work, 
and  makes  the  factory  scheme  a  necessary  but 
from  the  standpoint  of  psychology  decidedly  re- 
grettable evil.  I  have  become  more  and  more 
convinced  that  the  scientific  psychologist  is  not 
obliged  to  endorse  this  judgment  of  popular 
psychology. 

To  be  sure  the  problem  of  division  of  labor,  as 
it  appears  in  the  subdivision  of  manufacture,  is 
intimately  connected  with  many  other  related 
questions.  It  quickly  leads  to  the  much  larger 
question  of  division  of  labor  in  our  general  social 
structure,  which  is  necessary  for  our  social  life 
with  its  vocational  and  professional  demands, 
and  which  undoubtedly  narrows  to  a  certain  de- 
gree every  individual  in  the  completeness  of  his 
human  desires.  No  man  in  modern  society  can 
devote  himself  to  everything  for  which  his  mind 
may  long.  But  as  a  matter  of  course  these  large 
general  problems  of  civilization  lie  outside  of  the 
realm  of  our  present  inquiry.  In  another  direc- 
tion the  problem  of  monotony  comes  very  near 
to  the  question  of  fatigue.  But  we  must  see 
clearly  that  these  two  questions  are  not  identical 
and  that  we  may  discuss  monotony  here  without 
arguing  the  problem  of  fatigue.  The  frequent 
repetition  of  the  same  movement  or  of  the  same 
mental  activity  certainly  may  condition  an  object- 

192 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  MONOTONY 

ive  fatigue,  which  may  interfere  with  the  eco- 
nomic output,  but  this  is  not  the  real  meaning 
of  the  problem  of  monotony.  About  fatigue  we 
shall  speak  later.  Here  we  are  concerned  exclus- 
ively with  that  particular  psychological  attitude 
which  we  know  as  subjective  dislike  of  uniformity 
and  lack  of  change  in  the  work.  Within  these 
limits  the  question  of  monotony  is,  indeed,  fre- 
quently misunderstood  in  its  economic  signifi- 
cance. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  outsider  can  hardly 
ever  judge  when  work  offers  or  does  not  offer  inner 
manifoldness.  If  we  do  not  know  and  really  un- 
derstand the  subject,  we  are  entirely  unable  to 
discriminate  the  subtler  inner  differences.  The 
shepherd  knows  every  sheep, 'though  the  passer- 
by has  the  impression  that  they  all  look  alike. 
This  inability  to  recognize  the  differences  which 
the  man  at  work  feels  distinctly  shows  itself  even 
in  the  most  complicated  activities.  The  natural- 
ist is  inclined  to  fancy  that  the  study  of  a  phi- 
lologist must  be  endlessly  monotonous,  and  the 
philologist  is  convinced  that  it  must  be  utterly 
tiresome  to  devote  one's  self  a  life  long  to  some 
minute  questions  of  natural  science.  Only  when 
one  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  work  is  he  aware  of 
its  unlimited  manifoldness,  and  feels  how  every 
single  case  is  somehow  different  from  every  other. 

193 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

In  the  situation  of  the  industrial  workman,  the 
attention  may  be  directed  toward  some  small  dif- 
ferences which  can  only  be  recognized  after  long 
familiarity  with  the  particular  field.  Certainly 
this  field  is  small,  as  every  workman  must  spe- 
cialize, but  whether  he  manufactures  a  whole 
machine,  or  only  a  little  wheel,  makes  no  essential 
difference  in  the  attitude.  The  attraction  of  new- 
ness is  quickly  lost  also  in  the  case  of  the  most 
complicated  machine.  On  the  other  hand,  the  fact 
that  such  a  machine  has  an  independent  function 
does  not  give  an  independent  attraction  to  the 
work.  Or  we  might  rather  say,  as  far  as  the  work 
on  a  whole  machine  is  of  independent  value,  the 
work  of  perfecting  the  little  wheel  is  an  independ- 
ent task  also  and  offers  equal  value  by  its  own 
possibilities.  Whoever  has  recognized  the  finest 
variations  among  the  single  little  wheels  and  has 
become  aware  of  how  they  are  produced  some- 
times better,  sometimes  worse,  sometimes  more 
quickly,  sometimes  more  slowly,  becomes  as  much 
interested  in  the  perfecting  of  the  minute  part  as 
another  man  in  the  manufacture  of  the  complex 
machine.  It  is  true  that  the  laborer  does  not  feel 
interest  in  the  little  wheel  itself,  but  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  wheel.  Every  new  movement 
necessary  for  it  has  a  perfectly  new  chance  and 
stands  in  new  relations,  which  have  nothing  to  do 

194 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  MONOTONY 

with  the  repetition.  As  a  matter  of  course  this 
interest  in  the  always  new  best  possible  method 
of  production  is  still  strongly  increased  where 
piece- wages  are  introduced.  The  laborer  knows 
that  the  amount  of  his  earning  depends  upon  the 
rapidity  with  which  he  finishes  faultless  pro- 
ducts. Under  this  stimulus  he  is  in  a  continuous 
race  with  himself,  and  thus  has  every  reason  to 
prefer  the  externally  uniform  and  therefore  per- 
fectly familiar  work  to  another  kind  which  may 
bring  alternation,  but  which  also  brings  ever  new 
demands. 

For  a  long  while  I  have  tried  to  discover  in 
every  large  factory  which  I  have  visited  the  par- 
ticular job  which  from  the  standpoint  of  the  out- 
sider presents  itself  as  the  most  tiresome  possible. 
As  soon  as  I  found  it,  I  had  a  full  frank  talk  with 
the  man  or  woman  who  performed  it  and  earnestly 
tried  to  get  self-observational  comment.  My 
chief  aim  was  to  bring  out  how  far  the  mere  repe- 
tition, especially  when  it  is  continued  through 
years,  is  felt  as  a  source  of  discomfort.  I  may 
again  point  to  a  few  chance  illustrations.  In  an 
electrical  factory  with  many  thousands  of  em- 
ployees I  gained  the  impression  that  the  prize  for 
monotonous  work  belonged  to  a  woman  who  packs 
incandescent  lamps  in  tissue  paper.  She  wraps 
them  from  morning  until  night,  from  the  first 

195 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

day  of  the  year  to  the  last,  and  has  been  doing 
that  for  the  last  12  years.  She  performs  this  pack- 
ing process  at  an  average  rate  of  13,000  lamps  a 
day.  The  woman  has  reached  about  50,000,000 
times  for  the  next  lamp  with  one  hand  and  with 
the  other  to  the  little  pile  of  tissue  sheets  and 
then  performed  the  packing.  Each  lamp  demands 
about  20  finger  movements.  As  long  as  I  watched 
her,  she  was  able  to  pack  25  lamps  in  42  seconds, 
and  only  a  few  times  did  she  need  as  many  as  44 
seconds.  Every  25  lamps  filled  a  box,  and  the 
closing  of  the  box  required  a  short  time  for  itself. 
She  evidently  took  pleasure  in  expressing  herself 
fully  about  her  occupation.  She  assured  me  that 
she  found  the  work  really  interesting,  and  that 
she  constantly  felt  an  inner  tension,  thinking  how 
many  boxes  she  would  be  able  to  fill  before  the 
next  pause.  Above  all,  she  told  me  that  there  is 
continuous  variation.  Sometimes  she  grasps  the 
lamp  or  paper  in  a  different  way,  sometimes  the 
packing  itself  does  not  run  smoothly,  sometimes 
she  feels  fresher,  sometimes  less  in  the  mood  for 
the  work,  and  there  is  always  something  to  ob- 
serve and  something  to  think  about. 

This  was  the  trend  which  I  usually  found.  In 
some  large  machine  works  I  sought  for  a  long 
time  before  I  found  the  type  of  labor  which 
seemed  to  me  the  most  monotonous.     I  finally 

196 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  MONOTONY 

settled  on  a  man  who  was  feeding  an  automatic 
machine  which  was  cutting  holes  in  metal  strips 
and  who  simply  had  to  push  the  strips  slowly  for- 
ward; only  when  the  strip  did  not  reach  exactly 
the  right  place,  he  could  stop  the  automatic  ma- 
chine by  a  lever.  He  made  about  34,000  uniform 
movements  daily  and  had  been  doing  that  for 
the  past  14  years.  But  he  gave  me  the  same  ac- 
count, that  the  work  was  interesting  and  stimu- 
lating, while  he  himself  made  the  impression  of 
an  intelligent  workingman.  At  the  beginning,  he 
reported,  the  work  had  sometimes  been  quite 
fatiguing,  but  later  he  began  to  like  it  more  and 
more.  I  imagined  that  this  meant  that  at  first  he 
had  to  do  the  work  with  full  attention  and  that 
the  complex  movement  had  slowly  become  auto- 
matic, allowing  him  to  perform  it  like  a  reflex 
movement  and  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  other 
things.  But  he  explained  to  me  in  full  detail  that 
this  was  not  the  case,  that  he  still  feels  obliged  to 
devote  his  thoughts  entirely  to  the  work  at  hand, 
and  that  he  is  able  only  under  these  conditions  to 
bring  in  the  daily  wage  which  he  needs  for  his 
family,  as  he  is  paid  for  every  thousand  holes. 
But  he  added  especially  that  it  is  not  only  the 
wage  which  satisfies  him,  but  that  he  takes  de- 
cided pleasure  in  the  activity  itself. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  not  seldom  found  wage- 

197 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

earners,  both  men  and  women,  who  seemed  to 
have  really  interesting  and  varied  activities  and 
who  nevertheless  complained  bitterly  over  the 
monotonous,  tiresome  factory  labor.  I  became 
more  and  more  convinced  that  the  feeling  of 
monotony  depends  much  less  upon  the  particular 
kind  of  work  than  upon  the  special  disposition  of 
the  individual.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
same  contrast  exists  in  the  higher  classes  of  work. 
We  find  school-teachers  who  constantly  complain 
that  it  is  intolerably  monotonous  to  go  on  teach- 
ing immature  children  the  rudiments  of  know- 
ledge, while  other  teachers  with  exactly  the  same 
task  before  them  are  daily  inspired  anew  by  the 
manifoldness  of  life  in  the  classroom.  We  find 
physicians  who  complain  that  one  case  in  their 
practice  is  like  another,  and  judges  who  despair 
because  they  always  have  to  deal  with  the  same 
petty  cases,  while  other  judges  and  physicians 
feel  clearly  that  every  case  offers  something  new 
and  that  the  repetition  as  such  is  neither  con- 
spicuous nor  disagreeable.  We  find  actors  who  feel 
it  a  torture  to  play  the  same  role  every  evening 
for  several  weeks,  and  there  are  actors  who,  as 
one  of  the  most  famous  actresses  assured  me  after 
the  four  hundredth  performance  of  her  star  role, 
repeat  their  parts  many  hundred  times  with 
undiminished   interest,   because  they   feel   that 

198 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  MONOTONY 

they  are  always  speaking  to  new  audiences.  It 
seems  not  impossible  that  this  individual  differ- 
ence might  be  connected  with  deeper-lying  psy- 
chophysical conditions.  I  approached  the  ques- 
tion, to  be  sure,  with  a  preconceived  theory.  I 
fancied  that  certain  persons  had  a  finer,  subtler 
sense  for  differences  than  others  and  that  they 
would  recognize  a  manifoldness  of  variations 
where  the  others  would  see  only  uniformity.  In 
that  I  silently  presupposed  that  the  perception 
of  the  uniformity  must  be  something  disturbing 
and  disagreeable  and  the  recognition  of  variations 
something  which  stimulates  the  mind  pleasantly. 
But  when  I  came  to  examine  the  question  experi- 
mentally, I  became  convinced  that  such  a  hypo- 
thesis is  erroneous,  and  if  I  interpret  the  results 
correctly,  I  should  say  that  practically  the  oppo- 
site relation  exists.  Those  who  recognize  the  uni- 
formities readily  are  not  the  ones  who  are  dis- 
turbed by  them. 

I  proceeded  in  the  following  way.  To  make  use 
of  a  large  number  of  subjects  accustomed  to 
intelligent  self -observation,  I  made  the  first  series 
of  experiments  with  the  regular  students  in  my 
psychology  lecture  course  in  Harvard  University. 
Last  winter  I  had  more  than  four  hundred  men 
students  in  psychology  who  all  took  part  in  that 
introductory  series.   The  task  which  I  put  before 

199 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

them  in  a  number  of  variations  was  this:  I  used 
lists  of  words  of  which  half,  or  one  more  or  less 
than  half,  belonged  to  one  single  conceptional 
group.     There  were  names  of  flowers,  or  cities, 
or  poets,  or  parts  of  the  body,  or  wild  animals, 
and  so  on.    The  remaining  words  of  the  list,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  without  inner  connection  and 
without  similarity.  The  similar  and  the  dissimilar 
words  were  mixed.  The  subjects  listened  to  such 
a  list  of  words  and  then  had  to  decide  without 
counting  from  the  mere  impression  whether  the 
similar  words  were  more  or  equally  or  less  numer- 
ous than  the  dissimilar  words.    In  other  experi- 
ments the  arrangement  was  that  two  different 
lists  were  read  and  that  in  the  two  lists  a  larger 
or  smaller  number  of  words  were  repeated  from 
the  first  list.  Here,  too,  the  subjects  had  to  decide 
from  the  mere  impression  whether  the  repeated 
words  were  in  the  majority  or  not.  In  every  exper- 
iment the  judgment  referred  to  those  words  which 
belonged  to  the  same  group  and  which  were  in  this 
sense  uniform,  or  to  the  repeated  words,  and  it 
had  to  be  stated  with  reference  to  them  whether 
their  number  was  larger,  equal  to,  or  smaller  than 
the  different  words.  If  all  replies  had  been  correct, 
the  judgment  would  have  been  40  per  cent  equal, 
30  per  cent  smaller,  and  30  per  cent  larger,  as 
they  were  arranged  in  perfect  symmetry.  As  soon 

200 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  MONOTONY 

as  I  had  the  results  from  the  students,  we  figured 
out  for  every  one  what  number  he  judged  equal, 
smaller,  or  greater.  Then  we  divided  the  equal 
judgments  by  2  and  added  half  of  them  to  the 
larger  and  half  to  the  smaller  judgments.  In  this 
way  we  were  enabled  by  one  figure  to  character- 
ize the  whole  tendency  of  the  individual.  We 
found  that  in  the  whole  student  body  there  was 
a  tendency  to  underestimate  the  number  of  the 
similar  or  of  the  repeated  words.  The  majority 
of  my  students  had  a  stronger  impression  from 
the  varying  objects  than  from  those  which  were 
in  a  certain  sense  equal.  Yet  this  tendency  ap- 
peared in  very  different  degrees  and  for  about 
a  fourth  of  the  participants  the  opposite  tend- 
ency prevailed.  They  received  a  stronger  im- 
pression from  the  uniform  ideas. 

I  had  coupled  with  these  experimental  tests  a 
series  of  questions,  and  had  asked  every  subject 
to  express  with  fullest  possible  self-analysis  his 
practical  attitude  to  monotony  in  life.  Every 
one  had  to  give  an  account  whether  in  the  small 
habits  of  life  he  liked  variety  or  uniform  repeti- 
tion. He  was  asked  especially  as  to  his  prefer- 
ences for  or  against  uniformity  in  the  daily  meals, 
daily  walks,  and  so  on.  Furthermore  he  had  to 
report  how  far  he  is  inclined  to  stick  to  one  kind 
of  work  or  to  alternate  his  work,  how  far  he  wel- 

201 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

comes  the  idea  that  vocational  work  may  bring 
repetition,  and  so  on.  And  finally  I  tried  to  bring 
the  results  of  these  self-observations  into  relation 
with  the  results  of  those  experiments.  It  was 
here  that  the  opposite  of  the  hypothesis  which  I 
had  presupposed  suggested  itself  to  me  with  sur- 
prising force.  I  found  that  just  the  ones  who 
perceive  the  repetition  least  hate  it  most,  and 
that  those  who  have  a  strong  perception  of  the 
uniform  impressions  and  who  overestimate  their 
number  are  the  ones  who  on  the  whole  welcome 
repetition  in  life. 

As  soon  as  I  had  reached  this  first  experimental 
result,  I  began  to  see  how  it  might  harmonize 
with  known  psychological  facts.  Some  years  ago 
a  Hungarian  psychologist^^  showed  by  interest- 
ing experiments  that  if  a  series  of  figures  is  ex- 
posed to  the  eye  for  a  short  fraction  of  a  second, 
equal  digits  are  seen  only  once,  and  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  equal  impressions  in  such  a  series 
inhibit  each  other.  In  the  Harvard  laboratory 
we  varied  these  experiments  by  eliminating  the 
spatial  separation  of  those  numbers.  In  our 
experiments  the  digits  did  not  stand  side  by 
side,  but  followed  one  another  very  quickly  in 
the  same  place. ^^  Similar  experiments  we  made 
with  colors  and  so  on.  Here,  too,  we  found  that 
quickly  succeeding  equal  or  very  similar  impres- 

202 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  MONOTONY 

sions  have  a  tendency  to  inhibit  each  other  or  to 
fuse  with  each  other.  Where  such  an  inhibition 
occurs,  we  probably  ought  to  suppose  that  the 
perception  of  the  first  impression  exhausts  the 
psychical  disposition  for  this  particular  mental 
experience.  The  psychophysical  apparatus  be- 
comes for  a  moment  unable  to  arouse  the  same 
impression  once  more. 

The  above  described  new  experiments  suggest 
to  me  that  this  inhibition  of  equal  or  similar  im- 
pressions is  found  unequally  developed  in  different 
individuals.  They  possess  a  different  tendency 
to  temporary  exhaustion  of  psychophysical  dis- 
positions. There  are  evidently  persons  who  after 
they  have  received  an  impression  are  unable  im- 
mediately to  seize  the  same  impression  again. 
Their  attention  and  their  whole  inner  attitude 
fails.  But  there  are  evidently  other  persons  for 
whom,  on  the  contrary,  the  experience  of  an  im- 
pression is  a  kind  of  inner  preparation  for  arousing 
the  same  or  a  similar  impression.  In  their  case 
the  psychophysical  dispositions  become  stimu- 
lated and  excited,  and  therefore  favor  the  repeti- 
tion. If,  as  in  our  experiments,  the  task  is  simply 
to  judge  the  existence  of  equal  or  similar  impres- 
sions without  any  strain  of  attention,  the  one 
group  of  persons  must  underestimate  the  number 
of  the  equal  impressions  because  many  words  are 

203 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

simply  inhibited  in  their  minds  and  remain  neg- 
lected, the  other  groups  of  persons  must  from 
their  mental  dispositions  overestimate  the  num- 
ber of  similar  words.  From  here  we  have  to  take 
one  step  more.  If  these  two  groups  of  persons  have 
to  perform  a  task  in  which  it  is  necessary  that  not 
a  single  member  of  a  series  of  repetitions  be  over- 
looked, it  is  clear  that  the  two  groups  must  react 
in  a  very  different  way.  Now  a  perfect  percep- 
tion of  every  single  member  is  forced  on  them. 
Those  who  grasp  equal  impressions  easily,  and 
who  are  prepared  beforehand  for  every  new  re- 
petition by  their  inner  dispositions,  will  follow 
the  series  without  strain  and  will  experience  the 
repetition  itself  with  true  satisfaction.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  in  whom  every  impression  in- 
hibits the  readiness  to  receive  a  repetition,  and 
whose  inner  energy  for  the  same  exj>erience  is  ex- 
hausted, must  feel  it  as  a  painful  and  fatiguing 
effort  if  they  are  obliged  to  turn  their  attention 
to  one  member  after  another  in  a  uniform  series. 
This  mental  torture  is  evidently  the  displeasure 
which  such  individuals  call  the  dislike  of  mono- 
tony in  their  work.  Whether  this  theoretical  view 
is  correct,  we  have  to  determine  by  future  studies. 
In  our  Harvard  laboratory  we  have  now^  pro- 
ceeded from  such  preparatory  mass  experiments 
to  subtle  investigations  on  a  small  number  of 

204 


THE  PROBLEM   OF  MONOTONY 

persons  well  trained  in  psychological  self-obser- 
vation with  whom  the  conditions  of  the  experi- 
ment can  be  varied  in  many  directions, ^^ 

It  would  seem  probable  that  such  experiments 
might  also  win  psychotechnical  significance.  A 
short  series  of  tests  which  would  have  to  be 
adapted  to  the  special  situations,  and  which  for 
the  simple  wage-earner  would  have  to  be  much 
easier  than  those  sketched  above,  would  allow  it 
to  be  determined  beforehand  whether  an  indi- 
vidual will  suffer  from  repetition  in  work.  Even 
if  we  abstract  from  arguments  of  social  reform  and 
consider  exclusively  the  economic  significance,  it 
must  seem  important  that  labor  which  involves 
much  repetition  be  performed  by  men  and  women 
whose  mental  dispositions  favor  an  easy  grasp  of 
successive  uniform  impressions.  Experimentation 
could  secure  the  selection  of  the  fit  workmen  and 
the  complaint  of  monotony  would  disappear.  The 
same  selection  could  be  useful  in  the  opposite 
direction,  as  many  economic  occupations,  espe- 
cially in  our  time  of  automatic  machines,  de- 
mand a  quick  and  often  rhythmical  transition 
from  one  activity  to  another.  It  is  evident  that 
those  whose  natural  dispositions  make  every  men- 
tal excitement  a  preparation  not  for  the  identical 
but  for  the  contrasting  stimulation  will  be  nat- 
urally equipped  for  this  kind  of  economic  tasks. 


XVII 

ATTENTION    AND    FATIGUE 

THE  problem  of  monotony  may  lead  us  on 
to  other  conditions  through  which  atten- 
tion is  hindered  and  the  product  of  labor  thereby 
decreased.  The  psychologist  naturally  first  thinks 
of  external  distractions  of  attention.  If  he  turns 
to  practical  studies  of  the  actual  economic  life, 
he  is  often  decidedly  surprised  to  find  how  little 
regard  is  given  to  this  psychophysical  factor.  In 
industrial  establishments  in  which  the  smallest 
disturbance  in  the  machine  is  at  once  remedied 
by  a  mechanic  in  order  that  the  greatest  possible 
economic  effect  may  be  secured,  frequently  no- 
body takes  any  interest  in  the  most  destructive 
disturbances  which  unnecessarily  occur  in  the 
subtlest  part  of  the  factory  mechanism,  namely, 
the  attention  apparatus  of  the  laborers.  Such  an 
interference  with  attention  must,  for  instance, 
be  recognized  when  the  workingman,  instead  of 
devoting  himself  to  one  complex  function,  has  to 
carry  out  secondary  movements  which  appear 
to  be  quite  easily  performed  and  not  to  hinder 
him  in  his  chief  task.  Often  his  own  feeling  may 
endorse  this  impression.  Of  course  the  individual 

206 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

differences  in  this  direction  are  very  great.  The 
faculty  of  carrying  on  at  the  same  time  various 
independent  functions  is  unequally  distributed 
and  the  experiment  can  show  this  clearly.  It  is 
also  well  known  from  practical  life  that  some  men 
can  easily  go  on  dictating  to  a  stenographer  while 
they  are  affixing  their  signature  to  several  hun- 
dred circular  letters,  or  can  continue  their  fluent 
lecture  while  they  are  performing  experimental 
demonstrations.  With  others  such  a  side  activity 
continually  interrupts  the  chief  function.  Then 
some  succeed  better  than  others  in  securing  a 
certain  automatism  of  the  accessory  function  to 
such  a  point  that  its  special  acts  do  not  come  to 
consciousness  at  all.  For  example,  I  watched  a 
laborer  who  was  constantly  engaged  in  a  com- 
plicated technical  performance,  and  he  seemed 
to  give  to  it  his  full  attention.  Nevertheless  he 
succeeded  in  moving  a  lever  on  an  automatic 
machine  which  stood  near  by  whenever  a  certain 
wheel  had  made  fifty  revolutions.  During  all  his 
work  he  kept  counting  the  revolutions  without 
being  conscious  of  any  idea  of  number.  A  system 
of  motor  reactions  had  become  organized  which 
remained  below  the  threshold  of  consciousness 
and  which  produced  only  at  the  fiftieth  recur- 
rence the  conscious  psychical  impulse  to  perform 
the  lever   movement.    Yet   whether   the   talent 

207 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

for  such  simultaneous  mastery  of  independent 
functions  be  greater  or  smaller  and  the  demand 
more  or  less  complex,  in  every  case  the  principal 
action  must  be  hampered  by  the  side  issue.  To 
be  sure,  it  may  sometimes  be  economically  more 
profitable  to  allow  the  hindrance  to  the  chief 
work  in  order  to  save  the  expense  of  an  extra  man 
to  do  the  side  work.  In  most  cases,  however,  such 
a  consideration  is  not  involved;  it  is  simply  an 
ignoring  of  the  psychological  situation.  As  the 
accessory  work  seems  easy,  its  hindering  influence 
on  other  functions  is  practically  overlooked. 
Psychological  laboratory  experiments  have  shown 
in  many  different  directions  that  simultaneous 
independent  activities  always  disturb  and  in- 
hibit one  another. 

We  must  not  forget  that  even  the  conversations 
of  the  laborers  belong  in  this  psychophysical 
class.  Where  a  continuous  strain  of  attention  has 
produced  a  state  of  fatigue,  a  short  conversation 
will  bring  a  certain  relief  and  relaxation,  and  the 
words  which  the  speaker  hears  in  reply  will  pro- 
duce a  general  stimulation  of  psychical  energy  for 
the  moment.  Moreover,  the  mere  existence  of  the 
social  conversational  intercourse  will  raise  the 
general  emotional  mood,  and  this  feeling  of  social 
pleasure  may  be  the  source  from  which  may  spring 
new  psychophysical  powers.     Nevertheless  the 

208 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

fundamental  fact,  after  all,  is  that  any  talking 
during  the  labor,  so  far  as  it  is  not  necessary  for 
the  work  itself,  surely  involves  a  distraction  of 
attention.  Here,  too,  the  individual  is  not  con- 
scious of  the  effect.  He  feels  certain  that  he  can 
perform  his  task  just  as  well,  and  even  the  piece- 
worker, who  is  anxious  to  earn  as  much  as  possible, 
is  convinced  that  he  does  not  retard  himself  by 
conversation.  But  the  experiments  which  have 
been  carried  on  in  establishments  with  scientific 
management  speak  decidedly  against  such  a  sup- 
position. A  tyrannical  demand  for  silence  would, 
of  course,  be  felt  as  cruelty,  and  no  suggestion 
of  a  jail-like  discipline  would  be  wise  in  the  case 
of  industrial  labor,  for  evident  psychological 
reasons.  But  various  factories  in  rearranging 
their  establishments  according  to  the  principles 
of  scientific  management  have  changed  the  posi- 
tions of  the  workmen  so  that  conversations  be- 
come more  difficult  or  impossible.  The  result  re- 
ported seems  to  be  everywhere  a  significant 
increase  of  production.  The  individual  concen- 
trates his  mind  on  the  task  with  an  intensity 
which  seems  beyond  his  reach  as  long  as  the  inner 
attitude  is  adjusted  to  social  contact.  The  help 
which  is  rendered  by  the  feeling  of  social  coopera- 
tion, on  the  other  hand,  is  not  removed  by  the 
mere  abstaining  from  speaking.  Interesting  psy- 

209 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

chopedagogical  experiments  have,  indeed,  demon- 
strated that  working  in  a  common  room  produces 
better  results  than  isolated  activity.  This  is 
not  true  of  the  most  brilliant,  somewhat  nervous 
school  children,  who  achieve  in  their  own  room 
at  home  more  than  in  the  classroom.  But  for  the 
average,  which  almost  alone  is  in  question  for 
life  in  the  factory,  the  consciousness  of  common 
efiFort  is  a  source  of  psychophysical  reinforcement. 
This  evidently  remains  effective  when  the  work- 
ingmen  can  see  one  another,  even  if  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  seats  precludes  the  possibility  of 
chatting  during  the  work. 

However,  by  far  the  more  important  cause  of 
distraction  of  attention  lies  in  those  disturbances 
which  come  from  without.  Here  again  the  chief 
interest  ought  to  be  attached  to  those  interfer- 
ences which  the  workman  himself  no  longer  feels 
as  such.  In  a  great  printing-shop  a  woman  who 
was  occupied  with  work  which  demanded  her 
fullest  attention  was  seated  at  her  task  in  an 
aisle  where  trucking  was  done.  Removing  this 
operator  to  a  quiet  corner  caused  an  increase  of 
25  per  cent  in  her  vv^ork.^*'  To  be  sure  there  are 
many  such  disturbances  in  factory  life  which  can 
hardly  be  eliminated  with  the  technical  means 
of  to-day.  For  instance,  the  noise  of  the  machines, 
which  in  many  factories  makes  it  impossible  to 

210 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

communicate  except  by  shouting,  must  be  classed 
among  the  real  psychological  interferences  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  laborers  themselves 
usually  feel  convinced  that  they  no  longer  notice 
it  at  all.  Still  more  disturbing  are  strong  rhyth- 
mical sounds,  such  as  heavy  hammer  blows 
which  dominate  the  continuous  noises,  as  they 
force  on  every  individual  consciousness  a  psycho- 
physical rhythm  of  reaction  which  may  stand 
in  strong  contrast  to  that  of  a  man's  own  work. 
From  the  incessant  inner  struggle  of  the  two 
rhythms,  the  one  suggested  by  the  labor,  the 
other  by  the  external  intrusion,  quick  exhaustion 
becomes  unavoidable. 

If  it  were  our  purpose  to  elaborate  a  real  sys- 
tem of  psychological  economics,  we  should  have 
to  proceed  here  to  a  careful  study  of  the  influ- 
ences of  fatigue  on  the  industrial  achievement. 
We  should  have  to  discuss  the  various  kinds  of 
fatigue  and  exhaustion,  the  conditions  of  restora- 
tion, and  the  whole  group  of  related  problems  of 
psychophysics.  But  this  is  the  one  field  which 
has  been  thoroughly  ploughed  over  by  science 
and  by  practical  life  in  the  course  of  the  last  dec- 
ades. No  new  suggestion  and  no  new  hint  of  the 
importance  of  the  problem  is  needed  here.  Our 
short  discussion  was  planned  to  be  confined  to 
those  regions  which  have  not  been  worked  up  in 

211 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

systematic  investigations  and  for  which  new  de- 
vices seemed  desirable.  Hence  we  do  not  repro- 
duce here  the  rich  material  of  facts  which  the 
physiologists  and  psychophysicists  have  brought 
together  in  the  last  half -century,  the  importance 
of  which  for  industrial  labor  is  perfectly  evident. 
Moreover,  the  practical  applications  and  the  in- 
sight into  the  social  needs  have  transformed  the 
factories  themselves  into  one  big  laboratory  in 
which  the  problem  of  fatigue  has  been  studied 
by  practical  experiments.  The  problem  of  the 
dependence  of  fatigue  and  output  upon  the  length 
of  the  working  day  has  been  tested  in  numberless 
places  with  the  methods  of  really  exact  research, 
as  it  was  easy  to  find  out  how  the  achievement 
of  the  laborers  became  quantitatively  and  qual- 
itatively changed  by  the  shortening  of  the  work- 
ing hours. 

When  in  one  civilized  country  after  another 
the  exhaustingly  long  working  days  of  the  indus- 
trial wage-earner  were  shortened  more  and  more, 
the  theoretical  discussions  of  the  legislators  and 
of  the  social  reformers  were  soon  supplemented 
by  careful  statistical  inquiries  in  the  factories. 
It  was  found  that  everywhere,  even  abstracting 
from  all  other  cultural  and  social  interests,  a  mod- 
erate shortening  of  the  working  day  did  not  in- 
volve loss,  but  brought  a  direct  gain.   The  Ger- 

212 


ATTENTION   AND  FATIGUE 

man  pioneer  in  the  movement  for  the  shortening 
of  the  workingman's  day,  Ernst  Abbe,  the  head 
of  one  of  the  greatest  German  factories,  wrote 
many  years  ago  that  the  shortening  from  nine 
to  eight  hours,  that  is,  a  cutting-down  of  more 
than  10  per  cent,  did  not  involve  a  reduction  of 
the  day's  product,  but  an  increase,  and  that  this 
increase  did  not  result  from  any  supplementary 
efforts  by  which  the  intensity  of  the  work  would 
be  reinforced  in  an  unhygienic  way.^^  This  con- 
viction of  Abbe  still  seems  to  hold  true  after  mil- 
lions of  experiments  over  the  whole  globe.  But 
the  problem  of  fatigue  has  forced  itself  on  the  con- 
sideration of  the  men  of  affairs  from  still  another 
side.  It  has  been  well  known  for  a  long  while  how 
intimate  the  relations  are  between  fatigue  and  in- 
dustrial accidents.  The  statistics  of  the  various 
countries  and  of  the  various  industries  do  not  har- 
monize exactly,  but  a  close  connection  between 
the  number  of  accidents  and  the  hours  of  the  day 
can  be  recognized  everywhere.  Usually  the  great- 
est number  of  injuries  occurs  between  ten  and 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  and  between  three 
and  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  different 
distribution  of  the  working  hours,  and  of  the 
pauses  for  the  meals,  make  the  various  statistical 
tables  somewhat  incomparable.  But  it  can  be 
traced  everywhere  that  in  the  first  working  hours 

213 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

in  which  fatigue  does  not  play  any  considerable 
role,  the  number  of  accidents  is  small,  and  that 
this  number  sinks  again  after  the  long  pauses. 
It  is  true  that  the  number  also  becomes  somewhat 
smaller  at  the  end  of  the  forenoon  and  of  the  after- 
noon period,  but  this  seems  to  have  its  cause  in 
the  fact  that  with  growing  fatigue  and  with  the 
feeling  that  the  end  of  the  working  period  is  near, 
the  rhythm  of  the  activity  becomes  much  slower, 
and  with  such  slower  movements  the  danger  of 
accidents  is  greatly  reduced.  In  a  similar  way  the 
factories  have  had  to  give  the  fullest  attention  to 
the  fatigue  problem  in  its  relation  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  pauses,  and  above  all  in  its  relation  to  the 
advisable  speed  of  the  machines,  the  limits  of 
which  are  set  by  the  fatigue  of  the  workingmen, 
and  still  more  of  the  working- women. 

The  legislatures,  the  labor  unions,  and  the 
manufacturers  have  then  had  this  problem  of  fa- 
tigue constantly  before  their  eyes.^^  On  the  other 
hand,  the  psychologists  and  physiologists  have 
continuously  studied  the  fatigue  and  restoration 
of  the  muscle  system  and  of  the  central  nervous 
system,  and  have  analyzed  the  facts  with  the 
subtlest  methods.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  a  real  mutual  enrichment  has  so 
far  hardly  been  in  question.  On  the  contrary,  the 
whole  situation  has  again  demonstrated  the  old 

214 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

experience.  The  mere  trying  and  trying  again  in 
practical  life  can  never  reach  the  maximum  effects 
which  may  be  secured  by  systematic,  scientifically 
conducted  efforts.  On  the  other  side  the  studies 
of  the  theoretical  scholars  can  never  yield  the 
highest  values  for  civilization  if  the  problems 
which  offer  themselves  in  practical  life  are  ignored. 
The  theorists  have  to  prepare  the  ground,  and 
in  this  preparatory  work  they  must,  indeed,  re- 
main utterly  regardless  of  any  practical  situations. 
But  after  that  a  second  stage  must  be  reached 
at  which  on  the  foundation  of  this  neutral  re- 
search special  theoretical  investigations  are  un- 
dertaken which  originate  from  practical  condi- 
tions. As  long  as  industrial  managers  have  no 
contact  with  the  experiments  of  the  laboratory 
and  the  experimentalists  are  shy  of  any  contact 
with  the  industrial  reality,  humanity  will  pass 
through  social  suffering.  The  hope  of  mankind 
will  be  realized  by  the  mutual  fertilization  of 
knowing  and  doing. 

The  practical  efforts  of  the  factories  have,  in- 
deed, not  yet  reached  the  point  at  which  the  great- 
est possible  achievement  which  can  be  reached 
without  over-fatigue  may  be  secured.  We  called 
the  abbreviation  of  the  working  day  an  experi- 
mental scheme.  The  question  of  reducing  the 
working  hours  is  so  simple  that  no  further  special 

215 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

experiments  are  needed.  But  when  we  come  to 
the  questions  of  the  pauses  at  work,  the  speed  of 
work  and  similar  factors  related  to  fatigue,  the  sit- 
uation is  by  far  more  complicated,  and  the  often 
capricious  changes  in  the  plant  have  very  little 
in  common  with  a  systematic  experiment.  Some 
well-known  studies  of  the  efficiency  engineers 
clearly  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  such  sys- 
tematic efforts.  The  best-known  case  is  probably 
Taylor's  study  of  the  pig-iron  handlers  of  the 
Bethlehem  Steel  Company.  He  found  that  the 
gang  of  75  men  was  loading  on  the  average  about 
12^  tons  per  man  per  day.  When  he  discussed 
with  various  managers  the  question  of  what  out- 
put would  be  the  possible  maximum,  they  agreed 
that  under  premium  work,  piecework,  or  any  of 
the  ordinary  plans  for  stimulating  the  men,  an 
output  of  18  to  25  tons  would  be  the  extreme  pos- 
sibility. Then  he  proceeded  to  a  systematic  study 
of  the  fatigue  in  its  relation  to  the  burden  and  of 
the  best  possible  relation  between  working  time 
and  resting  time.  His  first  efforts  to  find  formulas 
were  unsuccessful,  because  he  calculated  only 
the  actual  mechanical  energy  exerted  and  found 
that  some  men  were  tired  after  exerting  energy 
of  i  hp.,  while  others  seemed  to  be  able  to  pro- 
duce the  energy  of  §  hp.  without  greater  fatigue. 
But  soon  he  discovered  the  mistake  in  his  figures. 

216 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

He  had  considered  only  the  actual  movements, 
and  had  neglected  the  period  in  which  the  laborer 
was  not  moving  and  was  not  exerting  energy,  but 
in  which  a  weight  was  pulling  his  arms  and  de- 
manding a  corresponding  muscular  effort.  As 
soon  as  this  muscular  achievement  was  taken  into 
account,  too,  he  found  that  for  each  particular 
weight  a  definite  relation  exists  between  the  time 
that  a  man  is  under  a  heavy  load  and  the  time  of 
rest.  For  the  usual  loads  of  90  pounds,  he  found 
that  a  first-class  laborer  must  not  work  more  than 
43  per  cent  of  the  working  day  and  must  be  entirely 
without  load  57  per  cent.  If  the  load  becomes 
lighter,  the  relation  is  changed.  If  the  workman 
is  handling  a  half  pig  weighing  46  pounds,  he  can 
be  under  load  58  per  cent  of  the  day  and  only  has 
to  rest  during  42  per  cent.^^ 

As  soon  as  these  figures  were  experimentally  se- 
cured, Taylor  selected  fit  men,  and  did  not  allow 
them  to  lift  and  to  carry  the  loads  as  they  pleased, 
but  every  movement  was  exactly  prescribed  by 
foremen  who  timed  exactly  the  periods  of  work 
and  rest.  If  he  had  simply  promised  his  men  a 
high  premium  in  case  they  should  carry  more 
than  the  usual  12  tons  a  day,  they  would  have 
burdened  themselves  as  heavily  as  possible  and 
would  have  carried  the  load  as  quickly  as  possible, 
thus  completely  exhausting  themselves  after  three 

217 


THE   BEST   POSSIBLE  WORK 

or  four  hours  of  labor.  In  spite  of  such  senseless 
exaggeration  of  effort  in  the  first  hours,  the  total 
output  for  the  day  would  have  been  relatively 
small.  Now  the  foremen  determined  exactly  when 
every  individual  should  lift  and  move  the  load 
and  when  he  should  sit  quietly.  The  result  was 
that  the  men,  without  greater  fatigue,  were  able 
to  carry  47|  tons  a  day  instead  of  the  12|  tons. 
Their  wages  were  increased  60  per  cent.  Such  a 
trivial  illustration  demonstrates  very  clearly  the 
extreme  difference  between  an  increase  of  the  eco- 
nomic achievement  by  scientific,  experimental  in- 
vestigation and  a  mere  enforcing  of  more  work  by 
artificially  whipping-up  the  mind  with  promises 
of  extraordinary  wages.  Yet  even  such  rules  as  the 
scientific  management  engineers  have  formed, 
may  be  elaborated  to  more  lasting  prescriptions 
as  soon  as  the  purely  psychological  factors  are 
brought  more  into  the  foreground  and  are  ap- 
proached with  the  careful  analysis  of  the  experi- 
mental psychologist. 

Such  a  systematic  psychological  inquiry  is  the 
more  important  for  questions  of  fatigue,  as  we 
know  that  the  subjective  feeling  of  displeasure 
in  fatigue  is  no  reliable  measure  for  the  objective 
fatigue,  that  is,  for  the  real  reduction  of  the  abil- 
ity for  work.  Daily  experience  teaches  us  how 
easily  some  people  overstep  the  limits  of  normal 

218 


ATTENTION  AND  FATIGUE 

fatigue,  and  in  extreme  cases  even  come  to  a  ner- 
vous breakdown  because  nature  did  not  protect 
them  by  the  timely  appearance  of  strong  fatigue 
feelings.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  many  men 
and  still  more  women  who  feel  tired  even  after 
a  small  exertion,  because  they  did  not  leam  early 
to  inhibit  the  superficial  feelings  of  fatigue,  or  be- 
cause the  sensations  of  fatigue  have  in  fact  a  cer- 
tain abnormal  intensity  in  their  case.  The  ques- 
tion how  far  the  psychophysical  apparatus  has 
really  been  exhausted  by  a  certain  effort  must  be 
answered  with  the  help  of  objective  research  and 
not  on  the  basis  of  mere  subjective  feelings.  But 
such  objective  measurements  demand  systematic 
experiments  in  the  laboratory. 

The  experiments  which  really  have  been  car- 
ried on  in  the  laboratory  as  yet,  as  far  as  they 
were  not  merely  physiological,  have  on  the  whole 
been  confined  to  so-called  mental  labor,  and  were 
essentially  devoted  to  problems  of  school  instruc- 
tion or  medical  diagnosis.  We  have  no  doubt  ex- 
cellent experiments  which  are  devoted  to  the 
study  of  the  individual  differences  of  exhaustion, 
fatigue,  exhaustibility,  ability  to  recover  the  lost 
energy,  ability  to  learn  from  practice,  and  so  on, 
but  they  are  still  exclusively  adjusted  to  the  needs 
of  the  school-teacher  and  of  the  nerve  specialist 
and  would  hardly  be  immediately  useful  to  the 

219 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

manager  of  a  factory.  We  shall  need  a  long  care- 
ful series  of  investigations  in  order  to  determine 
how  far  those  manifold  results  from  experiments 
with  memory  work,  thought  work,  writing  work, 
and  so  on  can  be  applied  to  the  work  which  the 
industrial  laborer  is  expected  to  perform. 


XVIII 

PHYSICAL   AND   SOCIAL  INFLUENCES  ON  THE 
WORKING  POWER 

THE  increase  and  decrease  of  the  ability  to 
do  good  work  depends  of  course  not  only 
upon  the  direct  fatigue  from  labor  and  the  pauses 
for  rest;  a  large  variety  of  other  factors  may  lead 
to  fluctuations  which  are  economically  important. 
The  various  hours  of  the  day,  the  seasons  of  the 
year,  the  atmospheric  conditions  of  weather  and 
climate,  may  have  such  influence.  Some  elements 
of  this  interplay  have  been  cleared  up  in  recent 
years.  Just  as  the  experiments  of  pedagogical 
psychology  have  determined  the  exact  curve  of 
efficiency  during  the  period  of  an  hour  in  school, 
so  other  investigations  have  traced  the  typical 
curve  of  psychical  efficiency  throughout  the  day 
and  the  year.  Sociological  and  criminological 
statistics  concerning  the  fluctuations  in  the  be- 
havior of  the  masses,  common-sense  experience  of 
practical  life,  and  finally,  economic  statistics  con- 
cerning the  quantity  and  quality  of  industrial 
output  in  various  parts  of  the  day  and  of  the  year, 
have  supplemented  one  another.   The  systematic 

221 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

assistance  of  the  psychological  laboratory,  how- 
ever, has  been  confined  to  the  educational  aspect 
of  the  problem.  Psychological  experiments  have 
determined  how  the  achievement  of  the  youth  in 
the  schoolroom  changes  with  the  months  of  the 
year  and  the  hours  of  the  day.  It  seems  as  if  it 
could  not  be  difficult  to  secure  here,  too,  a  connec- 
tion between  exact  experiment  and  economic 
work.  Much  will  have  to  be  reduced  to  individual 
variations.  The  laboratory  has  already  confirmed 
the  experience  of  daily  life  that  there  are  morn- 
ing workers  whose  strongest  psychophysical  eflB- 
ciency  comes  immediately  after  the  night's  rest, 
while  the  day's  work  fatigues  them  more  and 
more;  and  that  there  are  evening  workers  who  in 
the  morning  still  remain  under  the  after  effects 
of  the  night's  sleep,  and  who  slowly  become 
fresher  and  fresher  from  the  stimuli  of  the  day. 
It  would  seem  not  impossible  to  undertake  a  sys- 
tematic selection  of  various  individuals  under 
this  point  of  view,  as  different  industrial  tasks 
demand  a  different  distribution  of  efiiciency  be- 
tween morning  and  night. 

Such  a  selection  and  adjustment  may  be  eco- 
nomically still  more  important  with  reference  to 
the  fluctuations  during  the  course  of  the  year. 
Economic  inquiries,  for  instance,  have  suggested 
that  younger  and  older  workingmen  who  ordin- 

222 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

arily  show  the  same  efficiency  become  unequal 
in  their  ability  to  do  good  work  in  the  spring 
months,  and  the  economists  have  connected  this 
inequality  with  sexual  conditions.  But  other 
factors  as  well,  especially  the  blood  circulation  of 
the  organism  and  the  resulting  reactions  to  ex- 
ternal temperature,  different  gland  activities,  and 
so  on,  cause  great  personal  differences  in  efficiency 
during  the  various  seasons  of  the  year.  Inasmuch 
as  we  know  many  economic  occupations  in  which 
the  chief  demand  is  made  in  one  or  another  period 
of  the  year,  a  systematic  study  of  these  individual 
variations  might  be  of  high  economic  value,  where 
large  numbers  are  involved,  and  might  contribute 
much  to  the  individual  comfort  of  the  workers. 
But  a  constant  relation  to  day  and  year  also  seems 
to  exist  independent  of  all  personal  variations. 
When  the  sun  stands  at  its  meridian,  a  minimum 
of  efficiency  is  to  be  expected  and  a  similar  mini- 
mum is  to  be  found  at  the  height  of  summer. 
Correspondingly  we  have  an  increase  of  the  total 
psychical  efficiency  in  winter-time.  During  the 
spring-time  the  behavior  seems,  as  far  as  the  in- 
vestigations go,  to  be  different  in  the  intellectual 
and  in  the  psychomotor  activities.  It  is  claimed 
that  the  efficiency  of  the  intellectual  functions  de- 
creases as  the  winter  recedes,  but  that  the  effi- 
ciency of  psychomotor  impulses  increases.'''* 

223 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

The  influences  of  the  daily  temperature,  of  the 
weather  and  of  the  seasons  may  be  classed  among 
the  physical  conditions  of  efficiency.  We  may 
group  with  them  the  effects  of  nourishment,  of 
stimulants,  of  sleep,  and  so  on.  As  far  as  the  re- 
lations between  these  external  factors  and  purely 
bodily  muscle  work  are  involved,  the  interests 
of  the  psychologists  are  not  engaged.  But  it  is 
evident  that  every  one  of  these  relations  also  has 
its  psychological  aspect,  and  that  a  really  scien- 
tific psychotechnical  treatment  of  these  problems 
can  become  possible  only  through  the  agency  of 
psychological  experiments.  We  have  excellent  ex- 
perimental investigations  concerning  the  influ- 
ence of  the  loss  of  sleep  on  intellectual  labor  and 
on  simple  psychomotor  activities.  But  it  would 
be  rather  arbitrary  to  deduce  from  the  results  of 
those  researches  anything  as  to  the  effect  of  re- 
duction of  sleep  on  special  economic  occupations. 
Yet  such  knowledge  would  be  of  high  importance. 
We  have  in  the  literature  concerned  with  accidents 
in  transportation  numerous  popular  discussions 
about  the  destructive  influence  of  loss  of  sleep  on 
the  attention  of  the  locomotive  engineer  or  of 
the  helmsman  or  of  the  chauffeur,  but  an  analysis 
of  the  particular  psychophysical  processes  does 
not  as  yet  exist  and  can  be  expected  only  from 
systematic  experiments.    Nor  has  the  influence 

224 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

of   hunger   on    psychotechnical    activities   been 
studied  in  a  satisfactory  way. 

A  number  of  psychological  investigations  have 
been  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  influence  of 
alcohol  on  various  psychical  functions  and  in 
this  field  at  least  the  strictly  economic  problem  of 
industrial  labor  has  sometimes  been  touched.  We 
have  the  much  quoted  and  much  misinterpreted 
experiments  ^^  which  were  carried  on  in  Germany 
with  typesetters.  The  workmen  received  def- 
inite quantities  of  heavy  wine  at  a  particular 
point  in  the  work  and  the  number  of  letters  which 
they  were  able  to  set  during  the  following  quarter- 
hours  were  measured  and  compared  with  their  nor- 
mal achievement  in  fifteen  minutes.  The  reduction 
of  efficiency  amounted  on  the  average  to  15  per 
cent  of  the  output.  It  may  be  mentioned  that 
the  loss  referred  only  to  the  quantity  of  the  work 
and  not  at  all  to  the  quality.  The  well-known 
subjective  illusory  feeling  of  the  subjects  was  not 
lacking;  they  themselves  believed  that  the  wine 
had  reinforced  their  working  power.  As  soon  as 
such  experiments  are  put  into  the  service  of 
economic  life,  they  will  have  to  be  carried  on 
with  much  more  accurate  adjustment  to  the 
special  conditions,  with  subtler  gradation  of  the 
stimuli,  and  especially  with  careful  study  of  in- 
dividual factors.   But  at  first  it  seems  more  in  the 

225 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

interest  of  the  practical  task  that  the  extremely 
compHcated  problem  of  the  influence  of  alcohol 
be  followed  up  by  purely  theoretical  research  in 
the  laboratory  in  order  that  the  effect  may  be  re- 
solved into  its  various  components.  We  must  first 
find  the  exact  facts  concerning  the  influence  of 
alcohol  on  elementary  processes  of  mental  life, 
such  as  perception,  attention,  memory,  and  so  on, 
and  this  will  slowly  prepare  the  way  for  the  com- 
plete economic  experiment. 

At  present  the  greatest  significance  for  the  eco- 
nomic field  may  be  attached  to  those  alcohol  ex- 
periments which  dealt  with  the  apprehension  of 
the  outer  world.  They  proved  a  reduction  in  the 
ability  to  grasp  the  impressions  and  a  narrowing 
of  the  span  of  consciousness.  The  indubitable 
decrease  of  certain  memory  powers,  of  the  acuity 
in  measuring  distance,  of  the  time  estimation,  and 
similar  psychical  disturbances  after  alcohol,  must 
evidently  be  of  high  importance  for  industry  and 
transportation,  while  the  well-known  increase  of 
the  purely  sensory  sensibility,  especially  of  the 
visual  acuity  after  small  doses  of  alcohol,  hardly 
plays  an  important  role  in  practical  life.  The 
best-known  and  experimentally  most  studied 
effect  of  alcohol,  the  increase  of  motor  excitability, 
also  evidently  has  its  importance  for  industrial 
achievements.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  this  facil- 

226 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

ity  of  the  motor  impulses  after  small  doses  of 
alcohol  is  not  a  real  gain,  which  might  be  utilized 
economically,  but  is  ultimately  an  injury  to  the 
apparatus,  even  if  we  abstract  from  the  retarda- 
tion of  the  reaction  which  comes  as  an  after-effect. 
The  alcoholic  facilitation,  after  all,  reduces  the 
certainty  and  the  perfection  of  the  reaction  and 
creates  conditions  under  which  wrong,  and  this  in 
economic  life  means  often  dangerous,  motor  re- 
sponses arise.  The  energy  of  the  motor  discharge 
suffers  throughout  from  the  alcohol. 

Some  experiments  which  were  recently  carried 
on  with  reference  to  the  influence  of  alcohol  on 
the  power  of  will  seem  to  have  especial  signifi- 
cance for  the  field  of  economic  activity.  The  me- 
thod applied  in  the  experiment  was  the  artificial 
creation  of  an  exactly  measurable  resistance  to 
the  will-impulse  directed  toward  a  purpose.  The 
experiment  had  to  determine  what  power  of  re- 
sistance could  be  overcome  by  the  will  and  how 
far  this  energy  changes  under  the  influence  of 
alcohol.  For  this  end  combinations  of  meaning- 
less syllables  were  learned  and  repeated  until  tlicy 
formed  a  close  connection  in  memory.  If  one 
syllable  was  given,  the  mechanical  tendency  of 
the  mind  was  to  reproduce  the  next  syllable  in  the 
memorized  series.  The  will-intention  was  then 
directed  toward  breaking  this  memory  type.  For 

227 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

instance,  it  was  demanded,  when  a  syllable  was 
called,  that  the  subject  should  not  answer  with 
the  next  following  syllable,  but  with  a  rhyming 
syllable.  This  will-impulse  easily  succeeded  when 
the  syllables  to  be  learned  had  been  repeated  only 
a  few  times,  while  after  a  very  frequent  repeti- 
tion the  memory  connection  offered  a  resistance 
which  the  simple  will-intention  could  not  break. 
The  syllable  which  followed  in  the  series  rushed 
to  the  mind  before  the  intention  to  seek  a  rhyming 
syllable  could  be  realized.  The  number  of  repeti- 
tions thus  became  a  measure  for  the  power  of  the 
will.  After  carrying  out  these  experiments  at  first 
under  normal  conditions,  they  were  repeated  while 
the  subjects  were  under  the  influence  of  exactly 
graded  doses  of  alcohol. ^^  From  such  simple  tasks 
the  experiment  was  turned  to  more  and  more  com- 
plex ones  of  similar  structure.  All  together  they 
showed  clearly  that  the  alcohol  did  not  influence 
the  ability  to  make  the  will  effective  and  that  the 
actual  decrease  of  achievement  results  from  a 
decrease  in  the  ability  to  grasp  the  material.  As 
long  as  the  alcohol  doses  are  small,  this  feeling  of 
decreased  ability  stirs  up  a  reinforcement  in  the 
tension  of  the  will-impulse.  This  may  go  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  increased  will-effort  not  only 
compensates  for  the  reduced  understanding,  but 
even  over-compensates  for  it,  producing  an  im- 

228 


PHYSICAL  AND   SOCIAL   INFLUENCES 

provement  in  the  mental  work.  But  as  soon  as 
the  alcohol  doses  amount  to  about  100  cubic 
centimeters,  the  increased  tension  of  the  will  is 
no  longer  sufficient  to  balance  the  paralyzing  effect 
in  the  understanding.  Yet  it  must  not  be  over- 
looked that  in  all  these  experiments  only  isolated 
will  acts  were  in  question  which  were  separated 
from  one  another  by  pauses  of  rest.  Evidently, 
however,  the  technical  laborer  is  more  often  in  a 
situation  in  which  not  isolated  impulses,  but  a  con- 
tinuous tension  of  the  will  is  demanded.  How  far 
such  an  uninterrupted  will-function  is  affected 
by  alcohol  has  not  as  yet  been  studied  with  the 
exact  means  of  the  experiment. 

To  be  sure  an  obvious  suggestion  would  be  that 
the  whole  problem,  as  far  as  economics,  and  es- 
pecially industry,  are  concerned,  might  be  solved 
in  a  simpler  way  than  by  the  performance  of 
special  psychological  experiments,  namely,  by 
the  complete  elimination  of  alcohol  itself  from  the 
life  of  the  wage-earner.  The  laboratory  experi- 
ment which  seems  to  demonstrate  a  reduction  of 
objective  achievement  in  the  case  of  every  im- 
portant mental  function  merely  supplements  in 
exact  language  the  appalling  results  indicated  by 
criminal  statistics,  disease  statistics,  and  inher- 
itance statistics.  It  seems  as  if  the  time  had 
come   when    scientists   could    not   with    a  good 

229 


THE  BEST   POSSIBLE  WORK 

conscience  suggest  any  other  remedy  than  the 
merciless  suppression  of  alcohol.  Indeed,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  alcohol  is  one  of  the  worst 
enemies  of  civilized  life,  and  it  is  therefore  almost 
with  regret  that  the  scientist  must  acknowledge 
that  all  the  psychological  investigations,  which 
have  so  often  been  misused  in  the  partisan  writ- 
ings of  prohibitionists,  are  not  a  sufficient  basis 
to  justify  the  demand  for  complete  abstinence. 

First,  newer  experiments  make  it  very  clear 
that  many  of  the  so-called  effects  of  alcohol  which 
the  experiment  has  demonstrated  are  produced 
or  at  least  heightened  by  influences  of  suggestion. 
Experiments  which  have  been  carried  on  in 
England  for  the  study  of  that  point  show  clearly 
that  certain  psychical  disturbances  which  seem 
to  result  from  small  doses  of  alcohol  fail  to  appear 
as  soon  as  the  subject  does  not  know  that  he  has 
taken  alcohol.  For  that  purpose  it  was  necessary 
to  eliminate  the  odor,  and  this  was  accomplished 
by  introducing  the  beverages  into  the  organism 
by  a  stomach  pump.  When  by  this  method  some- 
times water  and  sometimes  diluted  alcohol  was 
given  without  the  knowledge  of  the  subject,  the 
usual  effects  of  small  doses  of  alcohol  did  not  arise. 
But  another  point  is  far  more  important.  We  may 
take  it  for  granted  that  alcohol  reduces  the  abil- 
ity for  achievement  as  soon  as  such  very  small 

230 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

doses  are  exceeded.  But  from  the  standpoint  of 
economic  life  we  have  no  right  to  consider  a  re- 
duction of  the  psychical  ability  to  produce  work 
as  identical  with  a  decrease  in  the  economic  value 
of  the  personality.  Such  a  view  would  be  right 
if  the  influence  necessarily  set  in  at  the  beginning 
of  the  working  period.  But  if,  for  instance,  a 
moderate  quantity  of  beer  is  introduced  into  the 
organism  after  the  closing  of  the  working  day, 
it  would  certainly  produce  an  artificial  reduction 
of  the  psychical  ability,  and  yet  this  decrease  of 
psychophysical  activity  might  be  advantageous  to 
the  total  economic  achievement  of  the  workingman 
in  the  course  of  the  week  or  the  year.  To  be  sure 
the  glass  of  beer  in  the  evening  paralyzes  certain 
inhibitory  centres  of  the  brain  and  therefore  puts 
the  mind  out  of  gear,  but  such  a  way  of  expressing 
it  may  easily  be  misleading,  as  it  suggests  too 
much  that  a  real  injury  is  done.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  scientific  psychology,  we  must  acknow- 
ledge that  such  a  paralyzing  effect  in  certain  parts 
of  the  psychophysical  system  sets  in  with  every 
act  of  attention  and  reaches  its  climax  in  sleep, 
which  surely  does  no  harm  to  the  mind.  It  may 
be  thoroughly  advantageous  for  the  total  work 
of  the  normal,  healthy,  average  workingman  if 
the  after  effects  of  the  motor  excitement  of  the 
day  are  eliminated  by  a  mild,  short  alcoholic  poi- 

231 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

soning  in  the  evening.  It  may  produce  that  nar- 
rowing and  dulhng  of  consciousness  which  extin- 
guishes the  cares  and  sorrows  of  the  day  and 
secures  the  night's  sleep,  and  through  it  increased 
efficiency  the  next  morning.  Systematic  experi- 
ments with  exact  relation  to  the  various  technical 
demands  must  slowly  bring  real  insight  into  this 
complex  situation.  The  usual  hasty  generalization 
from  a  few  experiments  with  alcohol  for  partisan 
interests  is  surely  not  justified  in  the  present  un- 
satisfactory state  of  knowledge.''^ 

Perhaps  we  know  still  less  of  the  influences 
which  coffee,  tea,  tobacco,  sweets,  and  so  on  exert 
on  the  life  of  the  industrial  worker.  It  will  be  wise 
to  resolve  these  stimuli  in  daily  use  into  their 
elements  and  to  study  the  effects  of  each  element 
in  isolated  form.  To  know,  for  instance,  the  ef- 
fects of  caflein  on  the  psychophysical  activities 
does  not  mean  to  know  the  effects  of  tea  or  coffee, 
which  contain  a  variety  of  other  substances  be- 
sides the  caffein,  substances  which  may  be  sup- 
posed to  modify  the  effect  of  the  caffein.  Yet  the 
first  step  must  in  this  case  be  the  study  of  the 
effects  of  the  isolated  caffein,  before  the  total  in- 
fluences of  the  familiar  beverages  can  be  followed 
up.  An  excellent  investigation  of  this  caffein 
effect  on  various  psychological  and  ps,ychomotor 
functions  has  recently  been  completed. ^^    When 

232 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

the  caffein  effect  on  tapping  movements  was 
studied,  it  was  found  that  it  works  as  a  stimu- 
lation, sometimes  preceded  by  a  slight  initial  re- 
tardation. It  persists  from  one  to  two  hours  after 
doses  of  from  one  to  three  grains  and  as  long  as 
four  hours  after  doses  of  six  grains.  The  steadi- 
ness test  showed  a  slight  nervousness  after  several 
hours  after  doses  of  from  one  to  four  grains.  After 
six  grains  there  is  pronounced  unsteadiness.  A 
complex  test  in  coordination  indicated  that  the 
effect  of  small  amounts  of  caffein  is  a  stimulation 
and  that  of  large  amounts  a  retardation.  Cor- 
respondingly the  speed  of  performance  in  type- 
writing is  heightened  by  small  doses  of  caffein 
and  retarded  by  larger  doses.  In  both  cases  the 
quality  of  the  performance  as  measured  by  the 
number  of  errors  is  superior  to  the  normal  result. 
The  influences  of  the  physiological  stimulants 
have  many  points  of  contact  with  the  effects  of 
social  entertainment,  the  significance  of  which  for 
the  economic  life  is  still  rather  unknown  in  any 
exact  detail.  Many  factories  in  which  the  labor 
is  noiseless,  as  in  the  making  of  cigars,  have  intro- 
duced gramophone  music  or  reading  aloud,  and 
it  is  easy  to  understand  theoretically  that  a  cer- 
tain animating  effect  results,  which  stimulates  the 
whole  psychophysical  activity.  But  only  the  ex- 
periment would  be  able  to  decide  how  this  stimu- 

233 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

lation  is  related,  for  instance,  to  the  distraction 
of  attention,  which  is  necessarily  involved,  or 
how  it  influences  various  periods  of  the  work  and 
various  types  of  work,  how  far  it  is  true  that  the 
musical  key  exerts  an  exciting  or  relaxing  influ- 
ence, what  intensity  and  what  local  position, 
what  rhythm  and  what  duration  of  such  aesthetic 
stimuli,  would  bring  the  best  possible  economic 
results.  We  all  have  read  of  the  favorable  effects 
which  were  secured  in  a  factory  when  a  cat  was 
brought  into  every  working-room  in  which  wo- 
men laborers  were  engaged  in  especially  fatigu- 
ing work.  The  cat  became  a  living  toy  for  the 
employees,  which  stimulated  their  social  con- 
sciousness. In  not  a  few  plants  the  reinforced 
achievement  is  explained  by  the  social  means  of 
entertainment  which  have  been  introduced  under 
the  pressure  of  modern  philanthropic  ideas.  The 
lounging-rooms  with  the  newspapers  and  peri- 
odicals, the  clubrooms  with  libraries,  the  excur- 
sions and  dances  and  patriotic  festivities,  fill  up 
the  reservoir  of  psychophysical  energies.  As  a 
matter  of  course  all  the  social  movements  which 
enhance  the  consciousness  of  solidarity  among  the 
laborers  and  the  feeling  of  security  as  to  their 
future  development  in  their  career  have  a  similar 
effect  of  reinforcing  the  normal  psychical  achieve- 
ment. 

234 


PHYSICAL  AND   SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

As  the  strongest  factor,  finally,  the  direct 
material  interest  must  be  added  to  these  condi- 
tions. The  literature  of  political  economy  is  full 
of  discussions  of  the  effect  of  increase  of  wages, 
of  the  payment  of  bonuses  and  premiums,  of 
piece- wages,  of  promised  pensions,  and,  as  far  as 
Europe  is  concerned,  of  state  insurance.  In  short, 
the  whole  individual  financial  situation  in  its  re- 
lation to  the  psychophysical  achievement  of  the 
wage-earner  is  a  favorite  topic  of  economic  in- 
quiry. We  cannot  participate  here  in  these  in- 
exhaustible discussions,  because  all  these  ques- 
tions are  to-day  still  so  endlessly  far  from  the 
field  of  psychological  experiments.  Nevertheless 
we  ought  not  to  forget  the  experience  through 
which  general  experimental  psychology  has  gone 
in  the  last  few  decades.  When  the  first  experi- 
ments were  undertaken  in  order  to  deal  systemat- 
ically with  the  mental  life,  the  friends  of  this  new 
science  and  its  opponents  agreed,  on  the  whole, 
in  the  belief  that  certainly  only  the  most  element- 
ary phenomena  of  consciousness,  the  sensations 
and  the  reactions  of  impulses,  would  be  accessible 
to  the  new  method.  The  opponents  naturally 
compared  this  modest  field  with  the  great  pro- 
blems of  the  mental  totality,  and  therefore  ridi- 
culed the  new  narrow  task  as  unimportant.  The 
friends,  on  the  other  hand,  were  eager  to  follow  the 

235 


THE    BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

fresh  path,  because  they  were  content  to  gain  real 
exactitude  by  the  experiment  at  least  in  these 
simplest  questions.  Yet  as  soon  as  the  new  in- 
dependent workshops  were  established  for  the 
young  science,  it  was  discovered  that  the  method 
was  able  to  open  fields  in  which  no  one  had  antic- 
ipated its  usefulness.  The  experiments  turned  to 
the  problems  of  attention,  of  memory,  of  imag- 
ination, of  feeling,  of  judgment,  of  character,  of 
aesthetic  experience  and  so  on.  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  method  of  the  economic  psycholog- 
ical experiment  may  also  quickly  lead  beyond  the 
more  elementary  problems,  as  soon  as  it  is  syste- 
matically applied,  and  then  it,  too,  may  conquer 
regions  of  inquiry  in  which  to-day  no  exact  calcu- 
lation of  the  psychological  factors  seems  possible. 
If  such  an  advance  is  to  be  a  steady  one,  the 
economic  psychologist  will  emancipate  himself 
from  the  chance  question  of  what  problems  are 
at  this  moment  important  for  commerce  and  in- 
dustry and  will  proceed  systematically  step  by 
step  from  those  results  which  the  psychological 
laboratory  has  yielded  under  the  non-economic 
points  of  view.  Many  previous  psychological  or 
psychophysical  inquiries  almost  touch  the  pro- 
blems of  industrial  achievement.  For  instance, 
the  experiments  on  imitation,  which  psycho- 
physicists  have  carried  on  in  purely  theoretical 

236 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

or  pedagogical  interests,  move  parallel  to  in- 
dustrial experiences.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
pacemaker  plays  his  role  not  only  in  the  field 
of  sport  but  also  in  the  factory.  The  rhythm  of 
one  laborer  gains  controlling  importance  for 
the  others,  who  instinctively  imitate  him.  Some 
plants  even  have  automatically  working  ma- 
chines with  the  special  intention  that  the  sharp 
rhythm  of  these  lifeless  forerunners  shall  produce 
an  involuntary  imitation  in  the  psychophysical 
system.  In  a  similar  way  many  laboratory  in- 
vestigations on  suggestion  and  suggestibility 
point  to  such  economic  processes,  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  especially  the  studies  on  the  influence 
of  the  ideas  of  purpose  which  are  being  under- 
taken nowadays  in  many  psychological  labora- 
tories may  easily  be  connected  with  the  problems 
of  economic  life.  We  know  how  the  consciousness 
of  the  task  to  be  performed  has  an  organizing 
influence  on  the  system  of  those  psychophysical 
acts  which  lead  to  the  goal.  The  experiment  has 
shown  under  which  conditions  this  effect  can 
be  reinforced  and  under  which  reduced.  Peda- 
gogical experiments  have  also  shown  exactly 
what  influence  belongs  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
approach  to  the  end  of  work;  the  feeling  of  the 
nearness  of  the  close  heightens  the  achievement, 
even  of  the  fatigued  subject.     It  would  not  be 

237 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  WORK 

difficult  to  connect  psychophysical  experiments 
of  this  kind  with  the  problems  of  the  task  and 
bonus  system,  which  is  nowadays  so  much  dis- 
cussed in  industrial  life.  The  practical  successes 
seem  to  prove  that  the  individual  can  do  more 
with  equal  effort  if  he  does  not  stand  before  an  un- 
limited mass  of  work  of  which  he  has  to  do  as  much 
as  possible  in  the  course  of  the  day,  but  if  he  is 
before  a  definitely  determined,  limited  task  with 
the  demand  that  he  complete  it  in  an  exactly 
calculated  time.  Scientific  management  has  made 
far-reaching  use  of  this  principle,  but  whether 
constant  results  for  the  various  industries  can  be 
hoped  for  from  such  methods  must  again  be  as- 
certained by  the  psj^chological  experiment. 

These  hopes  surely  will  not  weaken  the  interest 
of  the  psychologist  for  those  many  psychological 
methods  which  lie  outside  of  the  experimental 
research.  A  sociologist,  who  himself  had  been  a 
laborer  in  his  earlier  life,  undertook  in  Germany 
last  year  an  inquiry  into  the  psychological  status 
of  the  laborers'  achievement  by  the  questionnaire 
method. ^^  He  sent  to  8000  workingmen  in  the 
mining  industries,  textile  industries,  and  metal 
industries,  blanks  containing  26  questions,  and 
received  more  than  5000  replies.  Tlie  questions 
referred  to  the  pleasure  and  interest  in  the  work, 
to  preferences,  to  fatigue,  to  the  thoughts  during 

238 


PHYSICAL  AND  SOCIAL  INFLUENCES 

the  work,  to  the  means  of  recreation,  to  the  atti- 
tude toward  the  wages,  to  the  emotional  situa- 
tion, and  so  on.  The  5000  answers  allowed  mani- 
fold classifications.  The  various  mental  types  of 
men  could  be  examined,  the  influence  of  the  ma- 
chine, the  attitude  toward  monotony,  the  changes 
of  pleasure  and  interest  in  the  work  with  the  age 
of  the  laborer,  the  time  at  which  fatigue  becomes 
noticeable,  and  so  on.  Many  psychological  ele- 
ments of  industrial  life  thus  come  to  a  sharp  focus 
and  the  strong  individual  differences  could  not  be 
brought  out  in  a  more  characteristic  way.  Yet, 
all  taken  together,  even  such  a  careful  investiga- 
tion on  a  psychostatistical  basis  strongly  sug- 
gests that  a  few  careful  experimental  investiga- 
tions could  lead  further  than  such  a  heaping-up 
of  material  gathered  from  men  who  are  untrained 
in  self -observation  and  in  accurate  reports,  and 
above  all  who  are  accessible  to  any  kind  of  sug- 
gestion and  preconceived  idea.  The  experimental 
method  is  certainly  not  the  only  one  which  can 
contribute  to  reforms  in  industrial  life  and  the 
reinforcement  of  industrial  efficiency,  but  all 
signs  indicate  that  the  future  will  find  it  the  most 
productive  and  most  reliable. 


PART  III 
THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 


PART  III 

THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

XIX 

THE   SATISFACTION   OF   ECONOMIC    DEMANDS 

EVERY  economic  function  comes  in  contact 
with  the  mental  Hfe  of  man,  first  from  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  produced  by  the  psyche  of 
personalities.  This  gave  us  the  material  for  the 
first  two  parts  of  our  discussion.  We  asked  what 
mind  is  best  fitted  for  the  particular  kind  of  work, 
and  how  the  mind  can  be  led  to  the  best  output 
of  work.  But  it  is  evident  that  the  real  meaning 
of  the  economic  process  expresses  itself  in  an  en- 
tirely different  contact  between  work  and  mind. 
The  economic  activity  is  separated  from  all  other 
processes  in  the  world,  not  by  the  fact  that  it 
involves  labor  and  achievement  by  personalities, 
but  by  the  fact  that  this  labor  satisfies  a  certain 
group  of  human  desires  which  we  acknowledge 
as  economic.  The  mere  performance  of  labor,  with 
all  the  psychical  traits  of  attention  and  fatigue 
and  will-impulses  and  personal  qualities,  does  not 
in  itself  constitute  anything  of  economic  value. 

243 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

For  instance,  the  sportsman  who  climbs  a  glacier 
also  performs  such  a  fatiguing  activity  which  de- 
mands the  greatest  effort  of  attention  and  will; 
and  yet  the  psychotechnics  of  sport  do  not  belong 
in  economic  psychology,  because  this  mountain 
climbing  does  not  satisfy  economic  desires.  The 
ultimate  characteristic  which  designates  an  ac- 
tivity as  economic  is  accordingly  a  certain  effect 
on  human  souls.  The  whole  whirl  of  the  economic 
world  is  ultimately  controlled  by  the  purpose  of 
satisfying  certain  psychical  desires.  Hence  this 
psychical  effect  is  still  more  fundamental  for  the 
economic  process  than  its  psychical  origin  in  the 
mental  conditions  of  the  worker.  The  task  of 
psychotechnics  is  accordingly  to  determine  by 
exact  psychological  experiments  how  this  mental 
effect,  the  satisfaction  of  economic  desires,  can 
be  secured  in  the  quickest,  in  the  easiest,  in  the 
safest,  in  the  most  enduring,  and  in  the  most  satis- 
factory way. 

But  we  must  not  deceive  ourselves  as  to  the 
humiliating  truth  that  so  far  not  the  slightest  ef- 
fort has  been  made  toward  the  answering  of  this 
central  scientific  question.  If  the  inquiry  into  the 
psychical  effects  were  really  to  be  confined  to  this 
problem  of  the  ultimate  satisfaction  of  economic 
desires,  scientific  psychology  could  not  contribute 
any  results  and  could  not  offer  anything  but  hopes 

244 


SATISFACTION  OF  ECONOMIC  DEMANDS 

and  wishes  for  the  future.  At  the  first  glance  it 
might  appear  as  if  just  here  a  large  amount  of  lite- 
rature exists ;  moreover,  a  literature  rich  in  excel- 
lent investigations  and  ample  empirical  material. 
On  the  one  side  the  political  economists,  with  their 
theories  of  economic  value  and  their  investigations 
concerning  the  conditions  of  prices  and  the  de- 
velopment of  luxury,  the  calculation  of  economic 
values  from  pleasure  and  displeasure  and  many 
similar  studies,  have  connected  the  economic  pro- 
cesses with  mental  life;  on  the  other  side  the 
philosophers,  with  their  theories  of  value,  have 
not  confined  themselves  to  the  ethical  and 
aesthetic  motives,  but  have  gone  deeply  into  the 
economic  life  too.  While  such  studies  of  the  econ- 
omists and  of  the  philosophers  are  chiefly  meant 
to  serve  theoretical  understanding,  it  might  seem 
easy  to  deduce  from  them  technical  practical 
prescriptions  as  well.  If  we  know  that  under 
particular  conditions  certain  demands  will  be 
satisfied,  we  draw  the  conclusion  that  we  must 
realize  those  conditions  whenever  such  demands 
are  to  be  satisfied.  The  theoretical  views  of  the 
economists  and  of  the  philosophers  of  value  might 
thus  be  directly  translated  into  psychotechnical 
advice. 

As  soon  as  we  look  deeper  into  the  situation, 
we  must  recognize  that  this  surface  impression 

245 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

is  entirely  misleading.  Certainly  whenever  the 
philosophers  or  political  economists  discuss  the 
problems  of  value  and  of  the  satisfaction  of  human 
demands,  they  are  using  psychological  terms,  but 
the  whole  meaning  which  they  attach  to  these 
terms,  feeling,  emotion,  will,  desire,  pleasure,  dis- 
pleasure, joy,  and  pain,  is  essentially  different 
from  that  which  controls  the  causal  explanations 
of  scientific  psychology.  We  cannot  enter  into  the 
real  fundamental  questions  here,  which  are  too 
often  carelessly  ignored  even  in  scientific  quarters. 
Too  often  psychology  is  treated,  even  by  psycho- 
logists, as  if  it  covered  every  possible  systematic 
treatment  of  inner  experience,  and  correspond- 
ingly outsiders  like  the  economists  fancy  that 
they  are  on  psychological  ground  and  are  handling 
psychological  conceptions  as  soon  as  they  make 
any  statements  concerning  the  inner  life.  But  if 
we  examine  the  real  purposes  and  presuppositions 
of  the  various  sciences,  we  must  recognize  that 
the  human  experience  can  be  looked  on  from  two 
entirely  different  points  of  view.  Only  from  one 
of  the  two  does  it  present  itself  as  psychological 
material  and  as  a  fit  object  for  psychological 
study.  From  the  other  point  of  view,  which  is 
no  less  valuable  and  no  less  important  for  the 
understanding  of  our  inner  life,  human  experi- 
ence offers  itself  as  a  reality  with  which  psychology 

246 


SATISFACTION  OF  ECONOMIC  DEMANDS 

as  such  has  nothing  to  do,  even  though  it  may 
be  difficult  to  eHminate  the  usual  psychological 
words. 

The  psychologist  considers  human  experience 
as  a  series  of  objects  for  consciousness.  All  the 
perceptions  and  memory  ideas  and  imaginative 
ideas  and  feelings  and  emotions,  are  taken  by 
him  as  mental  objects  of  which  consciousness 
becomes  aware,  and  his  task  is  to  describe  and  to 
explain  them  and  to  find  the  laws  for  their  suc- 
cession. He  studies  them  as  a  naturalist  studies 
the  chemical  elements  or  the  stars.  It  makes  no 
difference  whether  his  explanation  leads  him  to 
connect  these  mental  contents  with  brain  pro- 
cesses as  one  theory  proposes,  or  with  subcon- 
scious processes  as  another  theory  suggests.  The 
entirely  different  aspect  of  inner  life  is  the  one 
which  is  most  natural  in  our  ordinary  intercourse. 
Whenever  we  give  an  account  of  our  inner  life  or 
are  interested  in  the  experience  of  our  friends,  we 
do  not  consider  how  their  mental  experiences  as 
such  objective  contents  of  consciousness  are  to 
be  described  and  explained,  but  we  take  them  as 
inner  actions  and  attitudes  toward  the  world,  and 
our  aim  is  not  to  describe  and  to  explain  them  but 
to  interpret  and  to  understand  them.  We  do  not 
seek  their  elements  but  their  meaning,  we  do  not 
seek  their  causes  and  efl'ects  but  their  inner  rela- 

247 


THE   BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

tions  and  their  inner  purposes.  In  short,  we  do 
not  take  them  at  all  as  objects  but  as  functions  of 
the  subject,  and  our  dealing  with  them  has  no 
similarity  to  the  method  of  the  naturalist. 

This  method  of  practical  life  in  which  we  seek  to 
express  and  to  understand  a  meaning,  and  relate 
every  will-act  to  its  aim,  is  not  confined  to  the 
mere  popular  aspect;  it  can  lead  to  very  systema- 
tic scholarly  treatment.  It  is  exactly  the  treat- 
ment which  is  fundamental  in  the  case  of  all  his- 
tory, for  example,  or  of  law,  or  of  logic.  That  is, 
the  historian  makes  us  understand  the  meaning  of 
a  personality  of  the  past  and  is  really  interested  in 
past  events  only  as  far  as  human  needs  are  to  be 
interpreted.  It  would  be  pseudo-psychology,  if  we 
called  such  an  account  in  the  truly  historical 
spirit  a  psychological  description  and  explanation. 
The  student  of  law  interprets  the  meaning  of  the 
will  of  the  legislator;  he  does  not  deal  with  the 
idea  of  the  law  as  a  psychological  content.  And 
the  logician  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  idea  as  a 
conscious  object  in  the  mind;  he  asks  as  to  the 
inner  relations  of  it  and  as  to  the  conclusions  from 
the  premises.  In  short,  wherever  historical  inter- 
pretations or  logical  deductions  are  needed,  we 
move  on  in  the  sphere  of  human  life  as  it  presents 
itself  from  the  standpoint  of  immediate  true  ex- 
perience without  artificially  moulding  it  into  the 

248 


SATISFACTION  OF  ECONOMIC  DEMANDS 

conceptions  of  psychology.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  soon  as  the  psychological  method  is  applied, 
this  immediate  life  meaning  of  human  experience 
is  abandoned,  and  instead  of  it  is  gained  the  pos- 
sibility of  considering  the  whole  experience  as  a 
system  of  causes  and  effects.  Mental  life  is  then 
no  longer  what  it  is  to  us  in  our  daily  intercourse, 
because  it  is  reconstructed  for  the  purposes  of  this 
special  treatment,  just  as  the  water  which  we 
drink  is  no  longer  our  beverage  if  we  consider  it 
under  the  point  of  view  of  chemistry  as  a  com- 
bination of  hydrogen  and  oxygen.  Hence  we  have 
not  two  statements  one  of  which  is  true  and  the 
other  ultimately  untrue;  on  the  contrary,  both 
are  true.  We  have  a  perfect  right  to  give  the  value 
of  truth  to  our  experience  with  water  as  a  refresh- 
ing drink,  and  also  to  the  formula  of  the  chemist. 
With  a  still  better  right  we  may  claim  that  both 
kinds  of  mental  experience  are  equally  true. 
Hence  not  a  word  of  objection  is  raised  against 
the  discussions  of  the  historians  and  the  philoso- 
phers, if  we  insist  that  their  so-called  psychology 
stands  outside  of  the  really  descriptive  and  ex- 
planatory account  of  mental  life,  and  is  therefore 
not  psychology  in  the  technical  sense  of  the 
word. 

It  is  this  historical  attitude  which  controls  all 
the  studies  of  the  political  economists.     They 

240 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

speak  of  the  will-acts  of  the  individuals  and  of 
their  demands  and  desires  and  satisfactions,  but 
they  do  not  describe  and  explain  them ;  they  want 
to  interpret  and  understand  them.  They  may 
analyze  the  motives  of  the  laborer  or  of  the  manu- 
facturer, but  those  motives  and  impulses  interest 
them  not  as  contents  of  consciousness,  but  only 
as  acts  which  are  directed  toward  a  goal.  The  aim 
toward  which  these  point  by  their  meaning,  and 
not  the  elements  from  which  they  are  made  up 
or  their  causes  and  effects,  is  the  substance  of 
such  economic  studies.  For  such  a  subjective 
account  of  the  meaning  of  actions  the  only  pro- 
blem is,  indeed,  the  correct  understanding  and  in- 
terpretation, and  the  consistent  psychologist  who 
knows  that  it  is  not  his  task  to  interpret  but  to 
explain  has  no  right  to  raise  any  questions  here. 
It  is,  therefore,  only  a  confusing  disturbance,  if 
a  really  psychological,  causal  explanation  is  mixed 
into  the  interpretation  of  such  a  system  of  will- 
acts  and  purposes.  It  is  true  we  find  this  confusion 
in  many  modern  works  on  economics.  Econo- 
mists know  that  a  scientific  explanatory  study  of 
the  human  mind  exists,  and  they  have  a  vague 
feeling  that  they  have  no  right  to  ignore  this  real 
psychology,  instead  of  recognizing  that  the  psy- 
chology really  has  nothing  to  do  with  their  par- 
ticular problem.  The  result  is  that  they  constantly 

250 


SATISFACTION  OF  ECONOMIC  DEMANDS 

try  to  discuss  the  impulses  and  instincts,  the 
hunger  and  thirst  and  sexual  desire,  and  the 
higher  demands  for  fighting  and  playing  and  ac- 
quiring, for  seeking  power  and  social  influence, 
as  a  psychologist  would  discuss  them,  referring 
them  to  biological  and  physiological  conditions 
and  explaining  them  causally.  Yet  as  soon  as  they 
come  to  their  real  problems  and  enter  into  the 
interpretation  and  meaning  of  these  economic 
energies,  they  naturally  slide  back  into  the  his- 
torical, economic  point  of  view  and  discuss  the 
economic  relations  of  men  without  any  reference 
to  their  psychologizing  preambles.  The  applica- 
tion of  the  psychological,  scientific  method  to  the 
true  economic  experience  is  therefore  not  secured 
at  all  in  this  way.  The  demands  and  volitions 
which  they  disentangle  are  not  the  ones  which  the 
psychophysiologist  studies,  because  they  are  left 
in  their  immediate  form  of  life  reality.  They  are 
accordingly  inaccessible  to  the  point  of  view  of 
experimental  psychology,  and  nothing  can  be  ex- 
pected from  such  interpretative  discussions  of  the 
economists  for  the  psychotechnics  at  which  the 
psychologist  is  aiming.  Even  where  the  political 
economists  deal  with  the  problems  of  value  in 
exact  language,  nothing  is  gained  for  the  kind  of 
insight  for  which  the  psychologist  hopes,  and  the 
psychologists  must  therefore  go  on  with  their 

251 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

own  methods,  if  they  are  ever  to  reach  a  causal 
understanding  of  the  means  by  which  a  satisfac- 
tion of  the  economic  demands  may  be  effected. 

So  far  the  psychologists  have  not  even  started 
to  examine  these  economic  feelings,  demands,  and 
satisfactions  with  the  means  of  laboratory  psy- 
chology. Hence  no  one  can  say  beforehand  how 
it  ought  to  be  done  and  how  to  gain  access  to  the 
important  problems,  inasmuch  as  the  right  formu- 
lation of  the  problem  and  the  selection  of  the  right 
method  would  here  as  everywhere  be  more  than 
half  of  the  solution.  It  must  be  left  to  the  develop- 
ment of  science  for  the  right  starting-point  and  the 
right  methods  to  be  discovered.  Sometimes,  to 
be  sure,  the  experiment  has  at  least  approached 
this  group  of  economic  questions.  For  instance, 
the  investigations  of  the  so-called  psychophysical 
law  have  often  been  brought  into  contact  with 
the  experiences  of  ownership  and  acquirement. 
The  law,  well  known  to  every  student  of  psycho- 
logy, is  that  the  differences  of  intensity  in  two 
pairs  of  sensations  are  felt  as  equal,  when  the 
two  pairs  of  stimuli  are  standing  in  the  same  re- 
lation. The  difference  between  the  intensities  of 
the  light  sensations  from  10  candles  and  11  candles 
is  equal  to  that  from  50  candles  and  55  candles, 
from  100  candles  and  110,  from  500  candles  and 
550 :  that  is,  the  difference  of  one  additional  can- 

252 


SATISFACTION  OF  ECONOMIC  DEMANDS 

die  between  10  and  11  appears  just  as  great  as  the 
difference  of  50  candles  between  500  and  550.  The 
psychologists  have  claimed  that  in  a  corresponding 
way  the  same  feeling  of  difference  arises  when  the 
amounts  of  possessions  stand  in  the  same  relation. 
That  is,  the  man  who  owns  $100  feels  the  gain  or 
loss  of  $1  as  much  as  one  who  owns  $100,000  feels 
the  gain  or  loss  of  $1000.  Not  the  absolute  amount 
of  the  difference,  but  the  relative  value  of  the 
increase  or  decrease  is  the  decisive  influence  on 
the  psychological  effect.  Some  experimental  in- 
vestigations concerning  feelings  have  also  come 
near  to  the  economic  boundaries.  The  study  of 
the  contrast  feelings  and  of  the  relativity  of  feel- 
ings, for  instance,  has  points  of  contact  with  the 
economic  problem  of  how  far  economic  progress, 
with  its  stirring  up  and  satisfying  of  continually 
new  demands,  really  adds  to  the  quantity  of  hu- 
man enjoyment.  In  other  words,  how  far  are 
those  sociologists  right  who  are  convinced  that 
by  the  technical  complexity  of  modern  life,  with 
all  its  comforts  and  mechanizations,  the  level  of 
individual  life  is  raised,  but  that  the  oscillations 
about  this  average  level  remain  the  same  and  pro- 
duce the  same  amount  of  pleasure  and  pain?  The 
technical  advance  would  therefore  bring  no  in- 
crease of  human  pleasure. 

We  might  also  put  into  this  class  the  meagre 

253 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

experimental  investigations  concerning  the  mu- 
tual influence  of  feelings.  When  sound,  light,  and 
touch  impressions,  each  of  which,  isolated,  pro- 
duces a  feeling  of  a  certain  degree,  are  combined 
with  one  another,  the  experiment  can  show  very 
characteristic  changes  in  the  intensity  of  pleasure 
and  displeasure.  From  such  routine  experiments 
of  the  laboratory  it  might  not  be  difl&cult  to  come 
to  more  complex  experiments  on  the  mutual  re- 
lations of  feeling  values  and  especially  of  the 
combinations  of  pleasure  with  displeasure.  This 
would  lead  to  an  insight  into  the  processes  which 
are  involved  in  the  fixing  of  prices,  as  they  are 
always  dependent  upon  the  pleasure  in  the  ac- 
quisition and  the  displeasure  in  the  outlay.  The 
exact  psychology  of  the  future  may  thus  very 
well  determine  the  conditions  under  which  the 
best  effects  for  the  satisfaction  of  economic  de- 
mands maybe  secured,  but  our  present-day  science 
is  still  far  from  such  an  achievement :  and  it  seems 
hardly  justifiable  to  propose  methods  to-day,  as  it 
would  be  like  drawing  a  map  with  detailed  paths 
for  a  primeval  forest  which  is  still  inaccessible. 


XX 

EXPERIMENTS   ON   THE   EFFECTS   OP 
ADVERTISEMENTS 

WE  have  said  that  the  time  has  not  yet 
come  for  discussing  from  the  standpoint 
of  experimental  psychology  the  means  to  secure 
the  ultimate  effects  of  economic  life,  namely,  the 
satisfaction  of  economic  demands.  If  this  were 
the  only  effect  which  had  economic  significance, 
this  whole  last  part  of  our  little  book  would  have 
to  remain  a  blank,  as  we  wanted  to  deal  here  with 
the  securing  of  the  best  effects  after  having  studied 
the  securing  of  the  best  man  and  of  the  best  work. 
Yet  these  ultimate  ends  are  certainly  not  the  only 
mental  effects  which  become  important  in  the 
course  of  economic  processes.  In  order  to  reach 
that  final  end  of  the  economic  movement,  often 
an  unlimited  number  of  part  processes  distributed 
over  space  and  time  must  cooperate.  The  satis- 
faction of  our  thirst  in  a  tea-room  may  be  a  trivial 
illustration  of  such  a  final  effect,  but  it  is  clear 
that  in  order  to  produce  this  ultimate  mental 
effect  of  satisfying  the  thirst,  thousands  of  eco- 
nomic processes  must  have  preceded.  To  bring 
the  tea  and  the  sugar  and  the  lemon  to  the  table, 

255 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

the  porcelain  cup  and  the  silver  spoon,  wage- 
earners,  manufacturers  and  laborers,  exporters, 
importers,  storekeepers,  salesmen,  and  customers 
had  to  cooperate.  Among  such  part  processes 
which  serve  the  economic  achievement  are  always 
many  which  succeed  only  if  they  produce  charac- 
teristic effects  in  human  minds.  The  propaganda 
which  the  storekeeper  makes,  for  instance,  his  dis- 
play and  his  posters,  serve  the  economic  interplay 
by  psychical  effects  without  themselves  satisfying 
any  ultimate  economic  demand.  They  must  at- 
tract the  passer-by  or  impress  the  reader  or  stimu- 
late his  impulse  to  buy,  and  through  all  this  they 
reach  an  end  which  is  in  itself  not  final,  as  no  hu- 
man desire  to  read  advertisements  exists.  When 
the  salesman  influences  the  customer  to  buy 
something  which  may  later  help  to  satisfy  a  real 
economic  demand,  the  art  of  his  suggestive  words 
secures  a  mental  effect  which  again  is  in  itself  not 
ultimate.  If  the  manufacturer  influences  his  em- 
ployees to  work  with  more  attention  or  with 
greater  industry,  or  if  the  community  stirs  up  the 
desire  for  luxury  or  the  tendency  to  saving,  we 
have  mental  effects  which  are  of  economic  im- 
portance without  being  really  ultimate  economic 
effects. 

As  far  as  these  effects  are  necessary  and  justi- 
fied stages  leading  to  the  ultimate  satisfaction  of 

250 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

economic  demands,  it  certainly  is  the  duty  of 
applied  psychology  to  bring  psychological  experi- 
ence and  exact  methods  into  their  service.  We 
emphasize  the  necessary  and  justified  character 
of  these  steps,  as  it  is  evident  that  psychological 
methods  may  be  made  use  of  also  by  those  who 
aim  toward  mental  effects  which  are  unjustified 
and  which  are  not  necessary  for  the  real  satisfac- 
tion of  valuable  demands.  Psychological  laws  can 
also  be  helpful  in  fraudulent  undertakings  or  in 
advertisements  for  unfair  competition.  The  psy- 
chotechnical  scientist  cannot  be  blamed  if  the  re- 
sults of  his  experiments  are  misused  for  immoral 
purposes,  just  as  the  chemist  is  not  responsible 
if  chemical  knowledge  is  aplied  to  the  construc- 
tion of  anarchistic  bombs.  But  while  psychology, 
as  we  have  emphasized  before,  cannot  from  its 
own  point  of  view  determine  the  value  of  the  end, 
the  psychologist  as  a  human  being  is  certainly 
willing  to  cooperate  only  where  the  soundness  and 
correctness  of  the  ends  are  evident  from  the  point 
of  view  of  social  welfare. 

In  order  to  demonstrate  the  principle  of  this 
kind  of  psychotechnical  help  with  fuller  detail,  at 
least  by  one  illustration,  I  may  discuss  the  case 
of  the  advertisements,  the  more  as  this  problem 
has  already  been  taken  up  in  a  somewhat  system- 
atic way  by  the  psychological  laboratories.    We 

257 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

have  a  number  of  careful  experimental  investiga- 
tions referring  to  the  memory-value,  the  atten- 
tion-value, the  suggestion-value,  and  other  men- 
tal effects  of  the  printed  business  advertisements. 
Of  course  this  group  of  experimental  investiga- 
tions at  once  suggests  an  objection  which  we  can- 
not ignore.  A  business  advertisement,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  newspapers,  is  such  an  extremely 
trivial  thing  and  so  completely  devoted  to  the 
egotistical  desire  for  profit  that  it  seems  undigni- 
fied for  the  scientist  to  spend  his  time  on  such 
nothings  and  to  shoot  sparrows  with  his  laboratory 
cannon-balls.  But  on  the  one  side  nothing  can 
be  unworthy  of  thorough  study  from  a  strictly 
theoretical  point  of  view.  The  dirtiest  chemical 
substance  may  become  of  greatest  importance  for 
chemistry,  and  the  ugliest  insect  for  zoology.  On 
the  other  side,  if  the  practical  point  of  view  of  the 
applied  sciences  is  taken,  the  importance  of  the 
inquiry  may  stand  in  direct  relation  to  the  intens- 
ity of  the  human  demand  which  is  to  be  satisfied 
by  the  new  knowledge.  Present-day  society  is  so 
organized  that  the  economic  advertisement  surely 
serves  a  need,  and  its  intensity  is  expressed  by  the 
well-known  fact  that  in  every  year  billions  are 
paid  for  advertising.  Measured  by  the  amount 
of  expenditure,  advertising  has  become  one  of  the 
largest  and  economically  most  important  human 

258 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

industries.  It  is,  then,  not  astonishing  that  scien- 
tists consider  it  worth  while  to  examine  the  exact 
foundations  of  this  industry,  but  it  is  surprising 
that  this  industry  could  reach  such  an  enormous 
development  without  being  guided  by  the  spirit 
of  scientific  exactitude  which  appears  a  matter 
of  course  in  every  other  large  business.  As  it  is  a 
function  of  science  to  study  the  physics  of  incan- 
descent lamps  or  gas  motors  so  as  to  bring  the 
economically  most  satisfactory  devices  into  the 
service  of  the  community,  it  cannot  be  less  im- 
portant from  the  standpoint  of  national  economics 
to  study  scientifically  the  eflficiency  of  the  adver- 
tisements in  order  that  the  national  means  may 
in  this  industry,  too,  secure  the  greatest  possible 
effects.  It  is  only  a  secondary  point  that  experi- 
ments of  this  kind  are  of  high  interest  to  the  theo- 
retical scientist  as  well.  For  us  the  advertisement 
is  simply  an  instrument  constructed  to  satisfy 
certain  human  demands  by  its  effects  on  the  mind. 
It  is  a  question  for  psychology  to  determine  the 
conditions  under  which  this  instrument  may  be 
best  adapted  to  its  purpose. 

The  mental  effect  of  a  well-adapted  advertise- 
ment is  manifold.  It  appeals  to  the  memory. 
Whatever  we  read  at  the  street  corner,  or  in  the 
pages  of  the  newspaper  or  magazine,  is  not  printed 
with  the  idea  that  we  shall  immediately  turn  to 

259 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

the  store,  but  first  of  all  with  the  expectation  that 
we  keep  the  content  of  the  advertisement  in  our 
memory  for  a  later  purchase.  It  will  therefore  be 
the  more  valuable  the  more  vividly  it  forces  itself 
on  the  memory.  But  if  practical  books  about  the 
art  of  advertising  usually  presuppose  that  this 
influence  on  the  memory  will  be  proportionate  to 
the  effect  on  the  attention,  the  psychologist  can- 
not fully  agree.  The  advertisement  may  attract 
the  attention  of  the  reader  strongly  and  yet  by  its 
whole  structure  may  be  unfit  to  force  on  the  mem- 
ory its  characteristic  content,  especially  the  name 
of  the  firm  and  of  the  article.  The  pure  memory- 
value  is  especially  important,  as  according  to  a 
well-known  psychological  law  the  pleasure  in 
mere  recognition  readily  attaches  itself  to  the  rec- 
ognized object.  The  customer  who  has  the  choice 
among  various  makes  and  brands  in  the  store 
may  not  have  any  idea  how  far  one  is  superior  to 
another,  but  the  mere  fact  that  one  among  them 
bears  a  name  which  has  repeatedly  approached 
his  consciousness  before  through  advertisements 
is  sufficient  to  arouse  a  certain  warm  feeling  of  ac- 
quaintance, and  by  a  transposition  of  feeling  this 
pleasurable  tone  accentuates  the  attractiveness 
of  that  make  and  leads  to  its  selection.  This  in- 
direct help  through  the  memory- value  is  econom- 
ically no  less  important  than  the  direct  service. 

260 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

In  order  to  produce  a  strong  effect  on  memory 
the  advertisement  must  be  easily  apprehensible. 
Psychological  laboratory  experiments  with  exact 
time-measurement  of  the  grasping  of  various  ad- 
vertisements of  the  same  size  for  the  same  arti- 
cle, but  in  different  formulations,  demonstrated 
clearly  how  much  easier  or  harder  the  apprehen- 
sion became  through  relatively  small  changes. 
No  mistake  in  the  construction  of  the  advertise- 
ment causes  so  much  waste  as  a  grouping  which 
makes  the  quick  apperception  difficult.  The  color, 
the  type,  the  choice  of  words,  every  element, 
allows  an  experimental  analysis,  especially  by 
means  of  time-measurement.  If  we  determine 
in  thousandths  of  a  second  the  time  needed  to 
recognize  the  characteristic  content  of  an  adver- 
tisement, we  may  discriminate  differences  which 
would  escape  the  naive  judgment,  and  yet  which 
in  practi(;al  life  are  of  considerable  consequence,  as 
the  effect  of  a  deficiency  is  multiplied  by  the 
number  of  readers. 

We  must  insist  on  the  further  demand  that  the 
advertisement  make  a  vivid  impression,  so  that  it 
may  influence  the  memory  through  its  vividness. 
Size  is  naturally  the  most  frequent  condition  for 
the  increase  of  vividness,  but  only  the  relative  size 
is  decisive.  The  experiment  shows  that  the  full- 
page  advertisement  in  a  folio  magazine  does  not 

261 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

influence  the  memory  more  than  the  full  page  in 
a  quarto  magazine,  if  the  reader  is  for  the  time 
adjusted  to  the  particular  size.  No  less  important 
than  the  size  is  the  originality  and  the  unusual 
form,  the  vivid  color,  the  skillful  use  of  empty 
spaces,  the  associative  elements,  the  appeal  to 
humor  or  to  curiosity,  to  sympathy  or  to  anti- 
pathy. Every  emotion  can  help  to  impress  the 
content  of  the  advertisement  on  the  involuntary 
memory.  Unusual  announcements  concerning 
the  prices  or  similar  factors  move  in  the  same 
direction. 

Together  with  the  question  of  the  apprehension 
and  the  vividness  of  the  impression,  we  must 
acknowledge  the  frequency  of  repetition  as  an 
equally  important  factor.  We  know  from  daily 
life  how  an  indifferent  advertisement  can  force 
itself  on  our  mind,  if  it  appears  daily  in  the  same 
place  in  the  newspaper  or  is  visible  on  every 
street  corner.  But  the  psychologically  decisive 
factor  here  is  not  the  fact  of  the  mere  repetition 
of  the  impression,  but  rather  the  stimulation  of 
the  attention  which  results  from  the  repetition. 
If  we  remained  simply  passive  and  received  the 
impression  the  second  and  third  and  fourth  time 
with  the  same  indifference  with  which  we  noticed 
it  the  first  time,  the  mere  summation  would  not 
be  suflBcient  for  a  strong  effect.    But  the  second 

262 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

impression  awakes  the  consciousness  of  recogni- 
tion, thus  exciting  the  attention,  and  through  it 
we  now  turn  actively  to  the  repeated  impression 
which  forces  itself  on  our  memory  with  increased 
vividness  on  account  of  this  active  personal 
reaction. 

We  may  consider  how  such  factors  can  be 
tested  by  the  psychotechnical  experiment.   Scott, 
for  instance,  studied  the  direct  influence  of  the 
relative  size  of  the  advertisements. ^°    He  con- 
structed a  book  of  a  hundred  pages   from  ad- 
vertisements  which  had  been  cut    from  various 
magazines  and  which  referred  to  many  different 
articles.    Fifty  persons  who  did  not  know  any- 
thing about  the  purpose  of  the  experiment  had  to 
glance  over  the  pages  of  the  book  as  they  would 
look  though  the  advertising  parts  of  a  monthly. 
The  time  which  they  used  for  it  was  about  ten 
minutes.   As  soon  as  they  had  gone  through  the 
hundred  pages,  they  were  asked  to  write  down 
what  they  remembered.    The  result  from  this 
method  was  that  the  50  persons  mentioned  on  an 
average  every  full-page  advertisement  6|  times, 
every  half-page  less  than  3  times,  every  fourth- 
page  a  little  more  than  1  time,  and  the  still  smaller 
advertisements  only  about  ^  time.  This  series  of 
experiments  suggested  accordingly  that  the  mem- 
ory value  of  a  fourth-page  advertisement  is  much 

263 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

smaller  than  one  fourth  of  the  memory-value  of  a 
full-page  advertisement,  and  that  of  an  eighth- 
page  again  much  smaller  than  one  half  of  the 
psychical  value  of  a  fourth-page.  The  customer 
who  pays  for  one  eighth  of  a  page  receives  not  the 
eighth  part,  but  hardly  the  twentieth  part  of  the 
psychical  influence  which  is  produced  by  a  full 
page. 

These  experiments,  which  were  carried  on  in 
various  forms, demanded  as  a  natural  supplement 
a  study  of  the  effects  of  repetition  in  relation  to 
size.  This  was  the  object  of  a  series  of  tests  which 
I  carried  on  recently  in  the  Harvard  laboratory. 
I  constructed  the  following  material:  60  sheets 
of  Bristol  board  in  folio  size  were  covered  with 
advertisements  which  were  cut  from  magazines 
the  size  of  the  "Saturday  Evening  Post"  and 
the  "Ladies'  Home  Journal."  We  used  advertise- 
ments ranging  from  full -page  to  twelfth-page  in 
size.  Every  one  of  the  6  full-page  advertisements 
which  we  used  occurred  only  once,  each  of  the  12 
half-page  advertisements  was  given  2  times,  each 
of  the  fourth-page  size,  4  times,  each  of  the  eighth- 
page  size,  8  times,  and  each  of  the  twelfth-page 
size,  12  times.  The  repetitions  were  cut  from  12 
copies  of  the  magazine  number.  The  same  adver- 
tisement never  occurred  on  the  same  page;  every 
page,  unless  it  was  covered  by  a  full-page  adver- 

264 


THE  EFFECTS   OF   ADVERTISEMENTS 

tisement,  offered  a  combination  of  various  an- 
nouncements. It  is  evident  that  by  this  arrange- 
ment every  single  advertisement  occupied  the 
same  space,  as  the  8  times  repeated  eighth-page 
advertisement  filled  a  full  page  too.  Thus  no  one 
of  the  60  announcements  which  we  used  was  spa- 
tially favored  above  another. 

Thirty  persons  took  part  in  the  experiment. 
Each  one  had  to  devote  himself  to  the  60  pages 
in  such  a  way  that  every  page  was  looked  at  for 
exactly  20  seconds.  Between  each  two  pages  was 
a  pause  of  3  seconds,  sufficient  to  allow  one  sheet 
to  be  laid  aside  and  the  next  to  be  grasped.  In  23 
minutes  the  whole  series  had  been  gone  through, 
and  immediately  after  that  every  one  had  to  write 
down  what  he  remembered,  both  the  names  of  the 
firms  and  the  article  announced.  In  the  cases 
where  only  the  name  or  only  the  article  was  cor- 
rectly remembered,  the  result  counted  |.  We 
found  great  individual  differences,  probably  not 
only  because  the  memory  of  the  different  persons 
was  different,  but  also  because  they  varied  in  the 
degree  of  interest  with  which  they  looked  at  such 
material.  The  smallest  number  of  reproductions 
was  18,  of  which  14  were  only  half  remembered, 
that  is,  only  the  name  or  only  the  article,  and  as 
we  counted  these  half  reproductions  I ,  the  mem- 
ory-value for  this  person  was  counted  11.    The 

265 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

maximum  reproduction  was  46,  of  which  6  were 
half  remembered. 

If  these  calculated  values  are  added  and  the 
sum  divided  by  the  number  of  participants,  that 
is,  30,  and  this  finally  by  the  number  of  the  adver- 
tisements shown,  that  is,  60,  we  obtain  the  aver- 
age memory-value  of  a  single  advertisement.  The 
results  showed  that  this  was  0.44.  But  our  real 
interest  referred  to  the  distribution  for  the  ad- 
vertisements of  different  size.  If  we  make  the 
same  calculation,  not  for  the  totality  of  the  ad- 
vertisements but  for  those  of  a  particular  size,  we 
find  that  the  memory-value  for  the  full-page  ad- 
vertisement was  0.33,  for  the  2  times  repeated 
half-page  advertisement,  0.30,  for  the  4  times  re- 
peated fourth-page  advertisement  0.49,  for  the  8 
times  repeated  eighth-page  advertisement,  0.44, 
and  for  the  12  times  repeated  twelfth-page  adver- 
tisement, 0.47.  Hence  we  come  to  the  result  that 
the  4  times  repeated  fourth -page  advertisement  as 
1§  times  stronger  memory-value  than  one  offer- 
ing of  a  full-page,  or  the  2  times  repeated  half- 
page,  but  that  this  relation  does  not  grow  with  a 
further  reduction  of  the  size.  Two  thirds  of  the 
subjects  were  men  and  one  third  women.  On  the 
whole,  the  same  relation  exists  for  both  groups, 
but  the  climax  of  psychical  efficiency  was  reached 
in  the  case  of  the  men  by  the  4  times  repeated 

266 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

fourth-page,  in  the  case  of  the  women  by  the  8 
times  repeated  eighth-page.  The  4  times  repeated 
fourth-page  in  the  case  of  the  women  was  0.45, 
in  the  case  of  the  men,  0.51,  the  8  times  repeated 
eighth-page,  women,  0.53,  men,  0.37. 

I  am  incHned  to  beHeve  that  the  ascent  of  the 
curve  of  the  memory-value  from  the  full-page  to 
the  fourth-page  or  eighth-page  would  have  been 
still  more  continuous,  if  the  whole-page  adver- 
tisements had  not  naturally  been  such  as  are  best 
known  to  the  American  reader.  The  whole-page 
announcement,  therefore,  had  a  certain  natural 
advantage.  But  when  we  come  to  another  calcu- 
lation, even  the  effect  of  this  advantage  is  lost. 
We  examined  the  relations  for  the  first  10  names 
and  articles,  which  every  one  of  the  30  persons 
wrote  down.  These  first  10  were  mostly  dashed 
down  quickly  without  special  thought.  They  also 
included  only  a  few  half  reproductions.  When  we 
study  these  300  answers  which  the  30  persons 
wrote  as  their  first  10  reproductions,  and  calcu- 
late from  them  the  chances  which  every  one  of 
the  60  advertisements  had  for  being  remembered, 
we  obtain  the  following  values:  The  probability 
of  being  remembered  among  the  first  10  was  for 
the  full-page  advertisement,  0.5,  for  the  half-page 
2  times  repeated,  1.2,  for  the  fourth -page  4  times 
repeated,  2.9,  for  the  eighth-page  8  times  repeated, 

267 


THE   BEST   POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

2.3,  and  for  the  twelfth-page  12  times  repeated, 

2.4,  The  superiority  of  repetition  over  mere  size 
appears  most  impressively  in  this  form,  but  we 
see  again  in  this  series  that  the  effect  decreases 
even  with  increased  number  of  repetitions  as 
soon  as  the  single  advertisement  sinks  below  a 
certain  relative  size,  so  that  the  12  times  repeated 
twelfth-page  advertisement  does  not  possess  the 
memory-value  of  the  4  times  repeated  fourth-page 
advertisement.  If  Scott's  experiments  concern- 
ing the  size  and  these  experiments  of  mine  con- 
cerning the  repetition  are  right,  the  memory- value 
of  the  advertisements  for  economic  purposes  is 
dependent  upon  complicated  conditions.  A  busi- 
ness man  who  brings  out  a  full -page  advertise- 
ment once  in  a  paper  which  has  100,000  readers 
would  leave  the  desired  memory-impression  on 
a  larger  number  of  individuals  than  if  he  were  to 
print  a  fourth-page  advertisement  in  four  differ- 
ent cities  in  four  local  papers,  each  of  which  has 
100,000  readers.  But  if  he  uses  the  same  paper  in 
one  town,  he  would  produce  a  much  greater  effect 
by  printing  a  fourth  of  a  page  four  times  than  by 
using  a  full-page  advertisement  once  only. 

As  a  matter  of  course  this  would  hold  true  only 
as  far  as  size  and  repetition  are  concerned.  Many 
other  factors  have  to  be  considered  besides.  Some 
of  these  could  even  be  studied  with  our  material. 

268 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

We  could  study  from  our  results  what  memory- 
value  is  attached  to  the  various  forms  of  type  or 
suggestive  words,  what  influence  to  illustrations, 
how  far  they  reinforce  the  impressiveness  and 
how  far  they  draw  away  the  attention  from  the 
name  and  the  object,  how  these  various  factors 
influence  men  and  women  differently,  and  so  on. 
Other  questions,  however,  demand  entirely  differ- 
ent forms  of  experiment.  We  may  examine  the 
effects  of  special  contrast  phenomena,  of  unusual 
background,  of  irregular  borders  and  original 
headings.  The  particular  position  of  the  adver- 
tisement also  deserves  our  psychological  interest. 
The  magazines  receive  higher  prices  for  the  cover 
pages  and  the  newspapers  for  advertisements 
which  are  surrounded  by  reading  matter.  In 
both  cases  obvious  practical  motives  are  decisive. 
The  cover  page  comes  into  the  field  of  vision  more 
frequently.  What  is  surrounded  by  reading  mat- 
ter is  less  easily  overlooked. 

But  the  newspaper  world  hardly  realizes  how 
much  other  variations  of  position  influence  the 
psychological  effect.  Starch  ^^  made  experiments 
in  which  he  did  not  use  real  advertisements,  but 
meaningless  syllables  so  as  to  exclude  the  in- 
fluence of  familiarity  with  any  announcement. 
He  arranged  little  booklets,  each  of  12  pages,  on 
which  a  syllable  such  as  lod,  zan,  mep,  dut,  yiby 

269 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

and  so  on  was  printed  in  the  middle  of  each  page. 
Each  of  his  50  subjects  glanced  over  the  book  and 
then  wrote  down  what  syllables  remain'cd  in  mem- 
ory. He  found  that  the  syllables  which  stood  on 
the  first  and  last  page  were  remembered  by  34  per- 
sons, those  on  the  second  and  eleventh  by  about  26, 
and  those  on  the  eight  other  pages  by  an  average 
of  17  persons.  In  the  next  experiment  he  printed 
one  syllable  in  the  middle  of  the  upper  and  one 
in  the  middle  of  the  lower  half  of  each  page.  The 
results  now  showed  that  of  those  syllables  which 
were  remembered  54  per  cent  stood  on  the  upper 
half  and  46  per  cent  on  the  lower  half  of  the  page. 
Finally,  he  divided  every  page  into  four  parts  and 
printed  one  syllable  on  the  middle  of  each  fourth 
of  a  page.  The  results  showed  that  of  the  remem- 
bered syllables  28  per  cent  stood  on  the  left-hand 
upper  fourth,  33  per  cent  on  the  right-hand  upper 
fourth,  16  per  cent  left-hand  lower,  and  23  per 
cent  right-hand  lower.  A  fourth-page  advertise- 
ment which  is  printed  on  the  outer  side  of  the 
upper  half  of  the  page  thus  probably  has  more 
than  twice  the  psychological  value  of  one  which  is 
printed  on  the  inner  side  of  the  lower  half.  The 
economic  world  spends  millions  every  year  for 
advertisements  on  the  upper  right-hand  side  and 
millions  for  advertisements  on  the  lower  left-hand 
side,  and  is  not  aware  that  one  represents  twice 

270 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  ADVERTISEMENTS 

the  value  of  the  other.  These  little  illustrations  of 
advertisement  experiments  may  suflSce  to  indi- 
cate how  much  haphazard  methods  are  still  pre- 
valent in  the  whole  field  of  economic  psychotech- 
nics,  methods  which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  the 
sphere  of  physical  and  chemical  technology. 


XXI 

THE  EFFECT   OF  DISPLAY 

IF  we  turn  from  the  simple  newspaper  adver- 
tisement to  the  means  of  propaganda  in  gen- 
eral, we  at  once  stand  before  a  question  which  is 
often  wrongly  answered.  The  practical  handbooks 
of  advertisements  and  means  of  display  treat 
it  as  a  self-evident  fact  that  every  presentation 
should  be  as  beautiful  as  possible.  In  the  first 
place,  we  cannot  deny  that  the  ugly  and  even  the 
disgusting  possess  a  strong  power  for  attracting 
attention.  Yet  it  is  true  that  by  a  transposition  of 
feelings  the  displeasure  in  the  advertisement  may 
easily  become  a  displeasure  in  the  advertised  ob- 
ject. But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  surely  a  mis- 
take to  believe  that  pure  beauty  best  fulfills  the 
function  of  the  advertisement.  Even  the  drafts- 
man who  draws  a  poster  ought  to  give  up  the  am- 
bition to  create  a  perfect  picture.  It  might  have 
the  power  to  attract  attention,  but  it  would 
hardly  serve  its  true  purpose  of  fixing  the  atten- 
tion on  the  article  which  is  advertised  by  the 
picture.  The  very  meaning  of  beauty  lies  in  its 
self-completeness.  The  beautiful  picture  rests 
in  itself  and  does  not  point  beyond  itself.  A  really 

272 


THE  EFFECT  OF  DISPLAY 

beautiful  landscape  painting  is  an  end  in  itself, 
and  must  not  stir  up  the  practical  wish  to  visit 
the  landscape  which  has  stimulated  the  eye  of  the 
painter.  If  the  display  is  to  serve  economic  inter- 
ests, every  line  and  every  curve,  every  form  and 
every  color,  must  be  subordinated  to  the  task  of 
leading  to  a  practical  resolution,  and  to  an  action, 
and  yet  this  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  the  meaning 
of  art.  Art  must  inhibit  action,  if  it  is  perfect. 
The  artist  is  not  to  make  us  believe  that  we  deal 
with  a  real  object  which  suggests  a  practical  atti- 
tude. The  aesthetic  forms  are  adjusted  to  the  main 
aesthetic  aim,  the  inhibition  of  practical  desires. 
The  display  must  be  pleasant,  tasteful,  harmoni- 
ous, and  suggestive,  but  should  not  be  beautiful, 
if  it  is  to  fulfill  its  purpose  in  the  fullest  sense.  It 
loses  its  economic  value,  if  by  its  artistic  quality 
it  oversteps  the  boundaries  of  that  middle  region 
of  arts  and  crafts.  This  of  course  stands  in  no 
contradiction  to  the  requirement  that  the  adver- 
tised article  should  be  made  to  appear  as  beauti- 
ful as  possible.  The  presentation  of  something 
beautiful  is  not  necessarily  a  beautiful  presenta- 
tion, just  as  a  perfectly  beautiful  picture  need 
not  have  something  beautiful  as  its  content.  A 
perfect  painting  may  be  the  picture  of  a  most 
ugly  person. 

We  have   not  yet  spoken  of  the  suggestive 

273 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

power  of  the  means  of  propaganda.  Every  one 
knows  how  the  influence  on  taste  and  smell,  on 
social  vanity,  on  local  pride,  on  the  gambling  in- 
stinct, on  the  instinctive  fear  of  diseases,  and 
above  all  on  the  sexual  instinct,  can  gain  sug- 
gestive power.  Everywhere  among  the  uncritical 
masses  such  appeals  reach  individuals  whose  psy- 
chophysical attitudes  make  such  influences  vivid 
and  overpowering.  Every  one  knows,  too,  those 
often  clever  linguistic  forms  which  are  to  aid 
the  suggestion.  They  are  to  inhibit  the  opposing 
impulses.  The  mere  use  of  the  imperative,  to  be 
sure,  has  gradually  become  an  ineffective,  used- 
up  pattern.  It  is  a  question  for  special  economic 
psychotechnics  to  investigate  how  the  suggestive 
strength  of  a  form  can  be  reinforced  or  weakened 
by  various  secondary  influences.  What  influence, 
for  example,  belongs  to  the  electric  sign  advertise- 
ments in  which  the  sudden  change  from  light  to 
darkness  produces  strong  psychophysical  effects, 
and  what  value  belongs  to  moving  parts  in  the 
picture? 

The  psychologist  takes  the  same  interest  in 
the  examples  of  window  displays,  sample  dis- 
tributions, and  similar  vehicles  of  commerce  by 
which  the  offered  articles  themselves  and  not 
their  mere  picture  or  description  are  to  influence 
the  consciousness  of  the  prospective  customer. 

274 


THE  EFFECT  OF  DISPLAY 

Here,  too,  every  element  may  be  isolated  and  may 
be  brought  under  psychotechnical  rules.  The  most 
external  question  would  refer  to  the  mere  quan- 
tity of  the  presented  material.  The  psychologist 
would  ask  how  the  mere  mass  of  the  offering  in- 
fluences the  attention,  how  far  the  feeling  of 
pleasure  in  the  fullness,  how  far  the  aesthetic  im- 
pression of  repetition,  how  far  the  associative 
thought  of  a  manifold  selection,  how  far  the  mere 
spatial  expansion,  affects  the  impression.  In  any 
case,  as  soon  as  it  is  acknowledged  as  desirable  to 
produce  with  certain  objects  the  impression  of 
the  greatest  possible  number,  the  experimental 
psychologist  stands  before  the  concrete  problem 
of  how  a  manifoldness  of  things  is  to  be  distrib- 
uted so  that  it  will  not  be  underestimated,  per- 
haps even  overestimated  as  to  quantity.  Again, 
the  laboratory  experiment  would  not  proceed 
with  real  window  displays  or  real  exliibitions,  but 
would  work  out  the  principle  with  the  simplified 
experimental  means. 

An  investigation  in  the  Harvard  laboratory, 
for  instance,  tested  the  influence  which  various 
factors  have  upon  the  estimation  of  a  number 
of  objects  seen.^-  The  question  was  how  far 
the  form  or  the  size  or  the  distribution  makes  a 
group  of  objects  appear  larger  or  smaller.  The 
experiment  was  started  by  showing  20  small  cards 

275 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

on  a  black  background  in  comparison  with  another 
group  of  cards  the  number  of  which  varied  be- 
tween 17  and  23.  At  first  the  form  of  these  Httle 
cards  was  changed:  triangles,  squares,  and  circles 
were  tried.  Or  the  color  was  changed:  light  and 
dark,  saturated  and  unsaturated  colors  were 
used.  Or  the  order  was  varied:  sometimes  the 
little  cards  lay  in  regular  rows,  sometimes  in 
close  clusters,  sometimes  widely  distributed, 
sometimes  in  quite  irregular  fashion.  Or  the 
background  was  changed,  or  the  surrounding 
frame,  or  the  time  of  exposure,  and  so  on.  Each 
time  the  subjects  had  to  estimate  whether  the 
second  group  was  the  larger  or  equal  or  the  smaller. 
These  experiments  indicated  that  such  compara- 
tive estimation  was  indeed  influenced  by  every 
one  of  the  factors  mentioned.  If  the  experiments 
show  that  an  irregular  distribution  makes  the 
number  appear  larger  or  a  close  clustering  re- 
duces the  apparent  number,  and  so  on,  the  busi- 
ness man  would  be  quite  able  to  profit  from  such 
knowledge.  The  jeweler  who  shows  his  rings  and 
watches  in  his  window  wishes  to  produce  with  his 
small  stock  the  impression  of  an  ample  supply. 
He  lacks  the  psychology  which  might  teach  him 
whether  he  would  act  more  wisely  in  having  the 
rings  and  the  watches  separated,  or  whether  he 
should  mix  the  two,  whether  he  ought  to  choose 

276 


THE  EFFECT  OF  DISPLAY 

a  background  which  is  similar  in  color  or  one 
which  contrasts  with  the  pieces  exhibited, 
whether  he  ought  to  present  the  single  object  in 
a  special  background  as  in  a  case,  or  to  show  it 
without  one.  He  is  not  aware  that  by  simple  psy- 
chological illusions,  it  is  not  difficult  to  change 
the  apparent  size  of  an  isolated  object  by  special 
treatment,  making  his  show-piece  appear  larger 
by  a  fitting  background  or  intentionally  making 
a  dainty  object  appear  smaller  by  contrasting 
surroundings.  These,  to  be  sure,  are  very  trivial 
illustrations,  but  the  same  fundamental  psycho- 
logical laws  which  are  true  for  the  show-window 
of  the  next  corner  store  are  true  for  the  world- 
display  of  the  nation.  The  point  is  to  present 
clearly  the  idea,  which  can  be  most  simply  ex- 
pressed in  such  trivial  material.  But  it  may  be 
added  that  even  in  the  case  of  the  most  indiffer- 
ent example  a  few  hasty  experiments  with  one  or 
two  subjects  cannot  yield  any  results  of  value. 

All  parts  of  physiological  psychological  optics 
can  contribute  similar  material.  The  questions 
of  color  harmony  and  color  contrast,  light  inten- 
sity and  mutual  support  of  uniformly  colored 
objects,  of  irradiation,  depth  and  perspective,  are 
significant  for  an  effective  display  in  the  show- 
window,  and  the  laboratory  results  can  easily 
be  translated  into  psychotechnical  prescriptions. 

277 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

But  here  it  is  still  more  necessary  to  separate 
carefully  the  merely  optical  aspect  of  the  impres- 
sion from  its  aesthetic  side.  All  that  we  claimed 
as  to  the  poster  is  still  more  justified  for  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  saleable  objects  themselves.  As 
soon  as  the  display  of  the  articles  forms  a  real  work 
of  art,  it  must  produce  inhibitions  in  the  soul  of 
the  spectator  by  which  the  practical  economic 
desire  is  turned  aside.  Beauty  here  too  has  strong 
power  of  attraction,  and  moreover  the  suggestive 
power,  by  which  it  withdraws  our  senses  from  the 
chance  surroundings,  forces  us  to  lose  ourselves 
in  the  offered  presentation.  But  just  through  this 
process  the  content  of  the  display  becomes  iso- 
lated and  separated  from  the  world  of  our  prac- 
tical interests.  Our  desires  are  brought  to  silence, 
we  do  not  seek  a  personal  relation  to  the  things 
which  we  face  as  admiring  spectators,  and  the 
intended  economic  effect  is  therefore  eliminated. 
Whoever  is  to  examine  the  psychotechnics  of 
displays  and  exhibitions  must  therefore  study 
the  psychology  of  aesthetic  stimulation,  of  sug- 
gestion, of  the  effects  of  light,  color,  form  and 
movement,  of  apperception  and  attention,  and 
ought  not  to  forget  the  psychology  of  humor  and 
curiosity,  of  instincts  and  emotions.  For  us  the 
essential  point  is  that  here  too  the  experimental 
psychological  method  alone  is  able  to  lead  from 

278 


THE  EFFECT  OF  DISPLAY 

mere  chance  arrangements  founded  on  personal 
taste  to  the  systematic  construction  which  secures 
with  the  greatest  possible  certainty  the  greatest 
possible  mental  effect  in  the  service  of  the  econ- 
omic purpose. 

The  problems  of  the  storekeeper  who  arranges 
his  windows,  however,  overlap  the  problems  of 
the  manufacturer  who  prepares  his  goods  for  the 
world-market,  and  who  must  from  the  start  take 
care  that  the  outer  appearance  of  his  goods  stimu- 
late the  readiness  to  buy.  In  factories  in  which 
these  questions  have  been  carefully  considered,  the 
psychological  elements  have  always  been  found 
to  be  the  most  influential,  but  often  the  most 
puzzling.  I  received  material  from  a  number 
of  industrial  plants  which  sold  the  same  article 
in  a  variety  of  packings.  The  material  which 
was  sent  to  me  included  all  kinds  of  soaps  and 
candies,  writing-papers  and  breakfast  foods,  and 
other  articles  which  are  handled  by  the  retailer, 
the  sale  of  which  depends  upon  the  inclination 
and  caprice  of  the  customer  in  the  store.  For  every 
one  of  these  objects  a  number  of  external  covers 
and  labels  were  sent  and  with  them  a  confidential 
report  with  details  about  their  relative  success. 
For  instance,  a  certain  kind  of  chocolate  was  sold 
under  12  different  labels.  One  of  them  was 
highly  successful  in  the  whole  country,  and  one 

279 


THE   BEST   POSSIBLE   EFFECT 

other  had  made  the  same  article  entirely  unsale- 
able. The  other  10  could  be  graded  between  these 
extremes.  In  all  12  cases  the  covers  were  deco- 
rated with  pictures  of  women  with  a  scenic  back- 
ground. As  long  as  only  aesthetic  values  were 
considered,  all  were  on  nearly  the  same  level, 
and  aesthetically  skilled  observers  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed their  preference  for  some  of  the  unsuccess- 
ful pictures  over  some  of  the  successful  ones.  But 
as  soon  as  an  internal  relation  was  formed  between 
the  pictures  and  the  chocolate,  in  the  one  case  a 
mental  harmony  resulted  which  had  strong  sug- 
gestive power,  in  the  other  case  a  certain  unrest 
and  inner  disturbance  which  necessarily  had  an 
inhibiting  influence.  The  picture  which  was  un- 
successful with  the  sweets  would  perhaps  have 
been  eminently  successful  for  tobacco.  From 
such  elementary  starting-points,  the  laboratory 
experiment  might  proceed  systematically  into 
spheres  of  economic  life  hitherto  untouched  by 
scientific  methods.  The  psychology  of  the  influ- 
ence of  external  forms  on  the  conscious  reactions 
of  the  masses  is  so  far  usually  considered  only 
when,  as  often  happens,  the  most  fundamental 
demands  are  violated;  for  instance,  when  objects 
which  are  to  give  the  impression  of  ease  are 
painted  in  colors  which  give  a  heavy,  clumsy  ap- 
pearance, or  vice  versa,  when  book-bindings  are 

280 


THE  EFFECT  OF  DISPLAY 

lettered  in  archaic  type  which  makes  the  reading 
of  the  title  impossible  for  a  passer-by,  and  many 
similar  antipsychological  absurdities  which  any 
stroll  through  the  streets  of  a  modern  city  forces 
on  us. 


XXII 

EXPERIMENTS   WITH    REFERENCE    TO 
ILLEGAL   IMITATION 

IT  is  perhaps  not  without  interest  to  turn  into 
a  by-path  at  this  point  of  our  road.  All  the 
illustrations  which  we  have  picked  out  so  far 
have  referred  to  strictly  economic  conditions.  But 
we  ought  not  to  forget  that  these  economic  pro- 
blems of  commerce  and  industry  are  everywhere 
in  contact  with  legal  interests  as  well.  In  order 
to  indicate  the  manifoldness  of  problems  acces- 
sible to  the  experimental  method,  we  may  discuss 
our  last  question,  the  question  of  packing  and 
of  labels,  in  this  legal  relation  too.  All  the  pack- 
ings, covers,  labels,  trademarks,  and  names  by 
which  the  manufacturer  tries  to  stimulate  the 
attention,  the  imagination,  and  the  suggestibility 
of  the  customer  may  easily  draw  a  large  part  of 
their  psychological  effectiveness  from  without, 
as  soon  as  they  imitate  the  appearance  of  articles 
which  are  well  introduced  and  favored  in  the 
market.  If  the  public  is  familiar  with  and  favor- 
ably inclined  toward  an  article  on  account  of  its 
inner  values  or  on  account  of  its  being  much  ad- 

282 


ILLEGAL   IMITATION 

vertised,  a  similar  name  or  a  similar  packing  may 
offer  efficient  help  to  a  rival  article.  The  law  of 
course  protects  the  label  and  the  deceiving  imi- 
tation can  be  prosecuted.  But  no  law  can  deter- 
mine by  general  conceptions  the  exact  point  at 
which  the  similarity  becomes  legally  unallowable. 
This  creates  a  situation  which  has  given  rise  to 
endless  difficulties  in  practical  life. 

If  everything  were  forbidden  which  by  its 
similarity  to  an  accredited  article  might  lead  to  a 
possible  confusion  in  the  mind  of  the  quite  care- 
less and  inattentive  customer,  any  article  once  in 
the  market  would  have  a  monopoly  in  its  line. 
As  soon  as  a  typewriter  or  an  automobile  or  a 
pencil  or  a  mineral  water  existed,  no  second  kind 
could  have  access  to  the  market,  as  with  a  high 
degree  of  carelessness  one  economic  rival  may  be 
taken  for  another,  even  if  the  new  typewriter 
or  the  new  pencil  has  a  new  form  and  color  and 
name.  On  the  other  side,  the  purchaser  could 
never  have  a  feeling  of  security  if  imitations  were 
considered  as  still  legally  justifiable  when  the 
difference  is  so  small  that  it  needs  an  intense 
mental  effort  and  careful  examination  of  details 
to  notice  it. 

The  result  is  that  the  jurisdiction  fluctuates  be- 
tween these  two  extremes  in  a  most  alarming  way, 
and  this  seems  to  hold  true  in  all  countries.    In 

283 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

theory:  "There  is  substantial  agreement  that  in- 
fringement occurs  when  the  marks,  names,  la- 
bels, or  packings  of  one  trader  resemble  those  of 
another  sujQSciently  to  make  it  probable  that  or- 
dinary purchasers,  exercising  no  more  care  than 
such  persons  usually  do  in  purchasing  the  article 
in  question,  will  be  deceived."  But  it  depends 
upon  the  trade  experts  and  the  judges  to  give 
meaning  to  such  a  statement  in  the  particular 
case,  as  the  amount  of  care  which  purchasers 
usually  exercise  can  be  understood  very  differ- 
ently. Sometimes  the  customer  is  expected  to 
proceed  with  an  attention  which  is  most  subtly 
adjusted  to  the  finest  differences,  and  sometimes 
it  is  taken  for  granted  that  he  is  unable  to  notice 
even  strong  variations.  It  is  clear  that  this  un- 
certainty which  disturbs  the  whole  trade  cannot 
be  eliminated  as  long  as  the  psychological  back- 
ground has  not  been  systematically  studied. 
Mere  talking  about  the  attention  of  the  customer, 
and  his  ability  to  decide  and  select,  and  of  his  ob- 
servations and  his  habits  in  the  spirit  of  popular 
common-sense  psychology,  can  never  secure  exact 
standards  and  definite  demarcation  lines.  The 
question  is  important  not  only  where  imitations 
of  morally  doubtful  character  are  in  the  market. 
Even  the  most  honest  manufacturer  is  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  obliged  to  imitate  his  predecessors, 

284 


ILLEGAL   IMITATION 

as  they  have  directed  the  taste  and  habits  of 
the  pubHc  in  particular  directions,  and  as  the 
product  of  his  company  would  suffer  unneces- 
sarily if  he  were  to  disregard  this  psychical  at- 
titude of  the  prospective  customers.  The  econo- 
mic legal  situation  accordingly  suggests  the 
question  whether  it  would  not  be  possible  to  de- 
vise methods  for  an  exact  measurement  of  the 
permissible  similarity,  and  this  demand  for 
exactitude  naturally  points  to  the  methods  of 
the  psychological  experiment.  E.  S.  Rogers, 
Esq.,  of  Chicago,  who  has  thoroughly  discussed 
the  legal  aspect  of  the  problem, ^^  first  turned 
my  attention  to  the  psychological  difficulty  in- 
volved. 

When  I  approached  the  question  in  the  Har- 
vard psychological  laboratory,  it  was  clear  to 
me  that  the  degree  of  attention  and  carefulness 
which  the  court  may  presuppose  on  the  part  of 
the  customer  can  never  be  determined  by  the 
psychologist  and  his  experimental  methods.  It 
would  be  meaningless,  if  we  tried  to  discover 
by  experiments  a  particular  degree  of  similarity 
which  every  one  ought  to  recognize  or  a  particular 
degree  of  attention  which  would  be  sufficient  for 
protection  against  fraud.  Such  degrees  must  al- 
ways remain  dependent  upon  arbitrary  decision. 
They  are  not  settled  by  natural  conditions,  but 

285 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

are  entirely  dependent  upon  social  agreement.  A 
decision  outside  of  the  realm  of  psychology  must 
fix  upon  a  particular  degree  in  the  scale  of  various 
similarity  values  as  the  limit  which  is  not  to  be 
passed.  The  aim  of  the  psychologist  can  be  only 
to  construct  such  a  scale  by  which  decisions  may 
be  made  comparable  and  by  which  standards 
may  become  possible.  The  experiment  cannot 
deduce  from  the  study  of  mental  phenomena 
what  degrees  of  similarity  ought  to  be  still  ad- 
missible, but  it  may  be  able  to  develop  methods 
by  which  different  degrees  of  similarity  can  be 
discriminated  and  by  which  a  certain  similarity 
value  once  selected  can  always  be  found  again 
with  objective  certainty.  After  many  fruitless 
efiforts  I  settled  on  the  following  form  of  experi- 
ments, which  I  hope  may  bring  us  nearer  to  the 
attainment  of  the  purpose. 

A  group  of  objects  is  observed  for  a  definite 
time  and  after  a  definite  interval  another  group 
of  objects  is  offered  for  comparison.  This  second 
group  is  identical  with  the  first  in  all  but  one  of 
the  objects,  and  this  is  replaced  by  a  similar  one. 
The  question  is  how  often  this  substitution  will 
be  noticed  by  the  observers.  I  may  give  in  detail 
a  characterization  of  the  set  of  experiments  in 
which  we  are  at  present  engaged.  We  are  work- 
ing with  picture  postal  cards,  using  many  hun- 

286 


ILLEGAL  IMITATION 

dred  cards  of  different  kinds,  but  for  each  one  we 
have  one  or  several  simihir  cards.  As  postal  cards 
are  generally  manufactured  in  sets,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  purchase  pairs  of  pictures  with  any  degree 
of  similarity.  Two  cards  with  Christmas  trees, 
or  two  with  Easter  eggs,  or  two  with  football 
players,  or  two  with  forest  landscapes,  and  so  on, 
may  differ  all  the  way  from  a  slight  variation  of 
color  or  a  hardly  noticeable  change  in  the  position 
of  details  to  variations  which  keep  the  same  mo- 
tive or  the  same  general  arrangement,  but  after  all 
make  the  card  strikingly  different.  The  first  step 
is  to  determine  for  each  pair  the  degree  of  simi- 
larity, on  a  percentage  basis.  To  overcome  mere 
arbitrariness,  we  ask  thirty  to  forty  educated  per- 
sons to  express  the  similarity  value,  calling  iden- 
tical postal  cards  100  per  cent  and  two  postal 
cards  as  different  as  a  colored  flower  piece  and  a 
black  picture  of  a  street  scene  0.  The  average 
value  of  these  judgments  is  then  considered  as 
expressing  the  objective  degree  of  similarity  be- 
tween the  two  pictures  of  a  pair.  After  securing 
such  standard  values,  we  carry  on  the  experiments 
in  the  following  form.  Six  different  postal  cards, 
for  instance,  are  seen  on  a  black  background 
through  the  opening  of  a  shutter  which  is  closed 
after  5  seconds.  The  six  may  be  made  up  of  a 
landscape,  a  building,  a  head,  a  genre  scene,  and 

287 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

so  forth.  After  20  seconds  the  same  group  of  pos- 
tal cards  is  shown  once  more,  except  that  one  is 
replaced  by  a  similar  one,  instead  of  one  church 
another  church  building,  or  instead  of  a  vase  with 
roses  a  vase  with  pinks.  If  the  substituted  picture 
has  the  average  similarity  value  of  80  per  cent  and 
we  make  the  experiment  with  10  persons,  the  sub- 
stitution may  be  discovered  by  7  persons  and  re- 
main unnoticed  by  3.  We  can  now  easily  vary 
every  one  of  the  factors  involved.  If  instead  of  6 
cards,  we  take  10,  it  may  be  that  only  4  out  of  10 
persons,  instead  of  7,  will  discover  the  substitution, 
while  if  we  take  4  cards  instead  of  6,  perhaps  9  per- 
sons out  of  10  will  recognize  the  difference  under 
these  otherwise  equal  conditions.  Only  an  espe- 
cially careless  observer  will  overlook  it.  But  in- 
stead of  changing  the  number  of  objects,  we  may 
change  the  periods  of  exposure.  If  we  show  the 
6  cards  only  for  2  seconds  instead  of  5  seconds, 
the  number  of  those  who  recognize  the  difference 
may  sink  from  7  to  5  or  4,  and  if  we  make  the  time 
considerably  longer,  we  shall  of  course  reach  a 
point  where  all  10  will  recognize  the  substitu- 
tion. The  same  holds  true  of  the  shortening  or 
lengthening  of  the  time-interval  between  the  two 
presentations.  The  third  variable  factor  is  the 
similarity  itself.  If  instead  of  one  church,  not  an- 
other church,  but  a  theatre  or  a  skyscraper  is 

288 


ILLEGAL  IMITATION 

shown,  that  is,  if  the  similarity  value  of  80  per 
cent  sinks  down  to  a  similarity  of  60  per  cent  or 
50  per  cent,  the  number  of  those  who  recognize 
the  substitution  will  again  become  larger;  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  substituted  card  shows  the 
same  church,  only  from  a  slightly  different  angle, 
bringing  the  similarity  value  up  to  90  per  cent  or 
95  per  cent,  the  number  of  observers  who  recog- 
nize the  substitution  may  sink  to  2  or  3.  To  make 
the  experiments  reliable,  it  is  also  necessary  fre- 
quently to  mix  in  cases  in  which  no  substitution 
at  all  is  introduced. 

If  these  experiments  are  varied  sufficiently  and 
a  large  mass  of  material  brought  together,  we 
must  be  able  to  secure  definite  formulae.  We  may 
find  that  if  the  critical  card  appears  among  6 
cards,  is  shown  for  5  seconds,  and  the  group  is 
again  exposed  after  20  seconds,  80  per  cent  of  the 
subjects  will  recognize  the  substitution  of  a  similar 
card,  if  the  degree  of  similarity  is  30  per  cent,  but 
only  60  per  cent  will  recognize  it  if  the  degree  of 
similarity  is  70  per  cent,  and  only  30  per  cent  will 
recognize  it  if  the  degree  of  similarity  is  90  per  cent. 
These  are  entirely  fictitious  figures  and  are  only  to 
indicate  the  principle.  If  such  an  exact  formula 
were  definitely  discovered,  we  should  still  be  un- 
able to  say  from  mere  psychological  reasoning 
whi^t  similarity  value  is  legally  permissible.   If 

289 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

the  rules  against  infringement  are  interpreted  in 
a  very  rigorous  spirit,  it  may  seem  desirable  to 
prohibit  imitations  which  are  as  little  similar  as 
those  postal  cards  which  were  graded  as  40  per 
cent  in  our  similarity  scale,  and  if  the  interpreta- 
tion is  a  loose  one,  it  may  appear  permissible 
to  have  imitations  on  the  market  which  are  as 
strongly  similar  as  our  postal  cards  graded  at  80 
per  cent  in  our  similarity  scale.  All  this  would  have 
to  be  left  to  the  lawmakers  and  to  the  judges. 
But  what  we  would  have  gained  is  this.  We  could 
say:  if  our  object  exposed  for  5  seconds  in  a  group 
of  6  other  objects  is  replaced  after  an  interval  of 
20  seconds  by  an  imitation  and  this  change  is 
recognized  by  8  persons  among  10,  the  degree  of 
similarity  is  30  per  cent  and  if  it  is  recognized 
by  3  out  of  10  subjects,  the  degree  of  similarity 
is  90  per  cent.  In  short,  from  any  percentage 
of  subjects  who  under  these  conditions  discovered 
the  substitution,  we  could  determine  the  degree 
of  similarity,  independent  of  any  individual  arbi- 
trariness. If  such  methods  were  accepted  by  the 
trade  and  the  courts,  it  would  only  be  necessary 
to  agree  on  the  percentage  of  similarity  which 
ought  to  be  permitted,  and  all  uncertainty  would 
disappear.  There  would  be  no  wrangling  of  op- 
posing interests;  it  would  be  possible  to  find  out 
whether  the  permitted  limit  were  overstepped  or 

290 


ILLEGAL  IMITATION 

not  with  an  exactitude  similar  to  that  with  which 
the  weight  or  the  chemical  constitution  of  a  trade 
commodity  is  examined.  Certainly  the  experi- 
ment establishes  here  conditions  which  are  very 
different  from  those  of  practical  life.  The  cus- 
tomer who  wants  to  buy  a  particular  picture  postal 
card  which  he  saw  once  before  and  to  whom  the 
salesman  offers  a  similar  one,  suggesting  that  it  is 
the  same,  is  facing  only  one  card  and  not  a  group 
of  six.  But  in  practical  life  the  card  which  he  has 
seen  was  not  observed  with  the  definite  intention 
of  keeping  the  memory  picture  in  mind,  and 
months  may  have  passed  since  it  was  seen.  The 
memory  ^picture  which  the  customer  has  in  his 
consciousness  when  he  seeks  the  particular  card 
is  much  weakened  by  this  circumstance  too.  We 
secure  this  weakening  artificially  by  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  experiment  in  placing  the  card  in  a 
group  of  six  or  ten  and  exposing  them  for  a  few 
seconds  only.  The  force  of  attention  and  the  cor- 
responding memory-value  are  by  this  distribu- 
tion diminished  in  a  definite  degree  in  the  case  of 
every  single  card. 

The  investigation  must  include  a  careful  study 
of  the  size  of  the  groups,  of  the  time-relations,  of 
the  percentage  of  correct  answers,  all  under  the 
point  of  view  of  greatest  fitness  for  practical  appli- 
cation.   In  the  Harvard  laboratory  the  research 

291 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

has  been  carried  on  partly  with  such  picture 
material,  partly  with  word  material,  and  partly 
with  concrete  objects.^^  Whatever  the  details  of 
the  outcome  may  be,  we  hope  that  the  work  will 
lead  to  results  which  may,  indeed,  make  such  a 
psychotechnical  use  possible.  Its  principles  and 
formulae  might  easily  be  adjusted  to  any  market- 
able material.  As  a  matter  of  course,  if  in  future 
the  courts  were  ever  to  accept  such  psychological, 
experimental  methods,  it  would  be  intolerable 
dilettantism  if  such  experiments  were  carried  on 
by  lawyers  and  district  attorneys.  It  is  as  true 
of  this  economic  legal  question  as  of  many  other 
legal  psychological  problems  that  its  introduction 
into  the  courtroom  can  become  desirable  only 
when  psychological  experts  are  engaged  and 
called  in  the  same  way  as  chemical  or  medical  ex- 
perts are  invited  to  the  court.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  surely  not  the  slightest  desire  on  the  part 
of  psychologists  to  be  dragged  into  humiliating 
performances  like  those  which  not  only  hand- 
writing experts,  but  even  psychiatric  specialists 
have  had  to  undergo  repeatedly  in  sensational 
court  trials.  The  day  for  the  expert  activity  in  the 
courtroom  will  come  for  the  psychologist  only 
when  the  country  has  attached  the  expert  to  the 
court  and  has  eliminated  the  expert  retained  by 
the  plaintiff  or  the  defendant.    But  this  general 

292 


ILLEGAL  IMITATION 

practical  question  as  to  the  position  of  the  psycho- 
logist in  the  courtroom  and  as  to  the  need  of  a 
psychological  laboratory  in  connection  with  the 
courts  would  lead  us  too  far  aside. 


XXIII 

BUYING    AND   SELLING 

THE  efifects  which  we  have  studied  so  far  were 
produced  by  inanimate  objects,  posters  or 
displays,  advertisements  or  labels  and  packings. 
The  economic  psychotechnics  of  the  future  will 
surely  study  with  similar  methods  the  effects  of 
the  living  commercial  agencies.  Experiments  will 
trace  the  exact  effects  which  the  salesman  or  cus- 
tomer may  produce.  But  here  not  even  a  modest 
beginning  can  be  discovered,  and  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  mention  a  single  example  of  experimental 
research.  The  desired  psychological  influences  of 
the  salesman  are  not  quite  dissimilar  to  those  of 
the  printed  means  of  propaganda.  Here,  too,  it  is 
essential  to  turn  the  attention  of  the  customer 
to  different  points,  to  awaken  a  vivid  favorable 
impression,  to  emphasize  the  advantages  of  the 
goods,  to  throw  full  light  on  them,  and  finally  to 
influence  the  will-decision  either  by  convincing 
arguments  or  by  persuasion  and  suggestion.  In 
either  case  the  point  is  to  enhance  the  impulse  to 
buy  and  to  suppress  the  opposing  ideas.  Yet 
every  one  of  these  factors,  when  it  starts  from  a 
man  and  not  from  a  thing  or  paper,  changes  its 

294 


BUYING  AND  SELLING 

form.  The  influence  becomes  narrower,  it  is  di- 
rected toward  a  smaller  number  of  persons;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  gains  just  by  the  new  possi- 
bility of  individualization.  The  salesman  in  the 
store  or  the  commercial  traveler  adjusts  himself 
to  the  wishes,  reactions,  and  replies  of  the  buyer. 
Above  all,  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  direct 
the  attention  to  the  decisive  points,  the  personal 
agent  has  the  possibility  of  developing  the  whole 
process  through  a  series  of  stages  so  that  the  at- 
tention slowly  becomes  focused  on  one  definite 
point.  The  salesman  observes  at  first  only  the 
general  limits  of  the  interest  of  the  customer  as 
far  as  it  is  indicated  by  his  reactions,  but  slowly 
he  can  find  out  in  this  whole  field  the  region  of 
strongest  desires.  As  soon  as  he  has  discovered 
this  narrower  region  in  which  the  prospects  of 
success  seem  to  be  greatest,  he  can  systematically 
eliminate  everything  which  distracts  and  scatters 
the  attention.  He  can  discover  whether  the  psyche 
of  the  individual  with  whom  he  is  dealing  can  be 
influenced  more  strongly  by  logical  arguments  or 
by  suggestion,  and  how  far  he  may  calculate  on 
the  pleasure  instincts,  on  the  excitement  of  emo- 
tions, on  the  impulse  to  imitate,  on  the  natural 
vanity,  on  the  desire  for  saving,  and  on  the  long- 
ing for  luxury.  In  every  one  of  these  directions  the 
whole  play  of  human  suggestion  may  be  helpful. 

295 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

The  voice  may  win  or  destroy  confidence,  the 
statement  may  by  its  firmness  overcome  counter- 
motives  or  by  its  uncertainty  reinforce  them.  Even 
hand  or  arm  movements  by  their  motor  sugges- 
tion may  focus  the  desires  of  the  customers,  while 
unskillful,  erratic  movements  may  scatter  the 
attention  and  lead  to  an  inner  oscillation  of  the 
will  to  buy. 

At  every  one  of  these  points  the  psychological 
experiment  may  find  a  foothold,  and  only  through 
such  methodological  study  can  the  haphazard 
proceedings  of  the  commercial  world  be  trans- 
formed into  really  economic  schemes.  Indeed,  it 
seems  nothing  but  chance  that  just  this  field  is 
controlled  by  chance  alone.  The  enormous  social 
interplay  of  energies  which  are  discharged  in  the 
selling  and  buying  of  the  millions  becomes  utterly 
planless  as  soon  as  salesman  and  customer  come 
into  contact,  and  this  tremendous  waste  of  en- 
ergy cannot  appear  desirable  for  any  possible 
interest  of  civilization.  The  time  alone  which  is 
wasted  by  useless  psychophysical  operations  in 
front  of  and  behind  the  counter  represents  a 
gigantic  part  of  the  national  budget.  Even  the 
complaints  about  the  long  working  day  of  the 
salesgirls  might  be  eliminated  from  the  debit 
account  of  the  national  ledger,  if  the  commercial 
companies  could  study  the  psychical  processes  in 

296 


BUYING  AND  SELLING 

selling  and  buying  with  the  same  carefulness  with 
which  they  analyze  all  details  in  preparing  the 
stock  and  fixing  the  prices.  In  the  army  or  in  the 
fire  department,  in  the  railroad  service,  and  even 
in  the  factory,  all  necessary  activities  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  as  far  as  possible  the  greatest  achieve- 
ment is  secured  by  the  smallest  amount  of  energy. 
But  when  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  customers 
in  the  civilized  world  want  to  satisfy  their  econo- 
mic demands  in  the  stores,  the  whole  dissolves 
into  a  flood  of  talk,  because  no  one  has  taken  the 
trouble  to  examine  scientifically  the  psychotech- 
nics  of  selling  and  to  put  it  on  a  firm  psychological 
foundation. 

The  idea  of  scientific  management  must  be 
extended  from  the  industrial  concerns  to  the 
commercial  establishments.  The  questioning  and 
answering,  the  showing  and  replacing  of  the  goods, 
the  demonstrating  and  suggesting  by  the  sales- 
men, must  be  brought  into  an  economic  system 
which  saves  time  and  energy,  as  has  been  tried 
with  the  laborer  in  the  factory.  Wherever  eco- 
nomic processes  are  carried  out  with  superfluous, 
haphazard  movements,  the  national  resources 
have  to  suffer  a  loss.  The  single  individual  can 
never  find  the  ideal  form  of  motion  and  the  ideal 
process  by  mere  instinct.  A  systematic  investiga- 
tion is  needed  to  determine  the  way  to  the  great- 

297 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

est  saving  of  energy,  and  the  result  ought  to  be 
made  a  binding  rule  for  every  apprentice.  How 
the  smallest  influences  grow  by  summation  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  experience  of  a  large  depart- 
ment store,  in  which  the  expense  for  delivery  of 
the  articles  sold  was  felt  as  too  large  an  item  in 
the  budget.  The  hundreds  of  saleswomen  there- 
fore received  the  order  after  every  sale  of  mod- 
erate-sized articles  not  to  ask,  as  before,  "May 
we  send  it  to  you?"  but  instead,  "Will  you  take 
it  with  you?"  Probably  none  of  the  many  thou- 
sand daily  customers  observed  the  difference,  the 
more  as  it  was  indifferent  to  most  of  them  whether 
they  took  the  little  package  home  themselves  or 
not.  In  cases  in  which  it  was  inconvenient,  they 
would  anyhow  oppose  the  suggestion  and  insist 
that  the  purchase  be  sent  to  them.  Yet  it  is  claimed 
that  this  hardly  noticeable  suggestion  led  to  a 
considerable  saving  in  the  following  year,  dis- 
tinctly felt  in  the  budget  of  the  whole  establish- 
ment. 

We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  the  process 
of  buying  deserves  the  same  psychological  inter- 
est as  that  of  selling.  If  psychotechnics  is  to  be 
put  into  the  service  of  a  valuable  economic  task, 
the  goal  cannot  possibly  be  to  devise  schemes  by 
which  the  customer  may  easily  be  trapped.  The 
purpose  of  science  cannot  be  to  help  any  one  to 

298 


BUYING  AND  SELLING 

sell  articles  to  a  man  who  does  not  need  them  and 
who  would  regret  the  purchase  after  quiet  thought. 
The  applied  psychologist  should  help  the  prospect- 
ive buyer  no  less,  and  must  protect  him  so  that 
his  true  intention  may  become  realized  in  the 
economic  process.  Otherwise  through  his  sug- 
gestibility, the  determining  idea  of  his  goal  might 
fade  in  his  consciousness  and  the  appeal  to  his 
vanity  or  to  his  instincts  might  awaken  an  anti- 
economic  desire  which  he  would  be  too  weak  to 
inhibit.  The  salesman  must  know  how  to  use 
arguments  and  suggestions  and  how  to  make 
them  effective,^^  but  the  customer  too  must 
know  how  to  see  through  a  misleading  argument 
and  how  to  resist  mere  suggestion. 

The  postulate  that  the  psychical  factors  in 
commercial  life  are  to  be  carefully  regarded  is 
repeated  in  more  complex  form  in  the  wholesale 
business  and  in  the  stock  exchange.  It  is  a  per- 
fectly justified  and  consistent  thought  which  re- 
cently led  a  large  credit  bureau  to  an  effort  to  base 
its  information  on  psychological  analysis.  It  is 
well  known  that  there  are  bureaus  in  which  the 
ledger  experiences  of  a  large  circle  of  companies 
in  the  same  commercial  line  are  collected,  tabu- 
lated, and  recorded,  thus  affording  an  automatic 
review  of  the  occurrences,  focusing  early  attention 
on  doubtful  accounts  and  pointing  out  weaknesses 

299 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

in  the  customers'  conditions,  as  they  develop,  as 
well  as  evidences  of  prosperity.  The  ledger  experi- 
ence which  a  single  company  has  with  all  its  cus- 
tomers is  tabulated  without  revealing  its  identity 
to  the  associates,  who  get  reports  containing  it, 
and  the  many  combined  ledgers  become  a  valu- 
able guide.  Yet  all  such  methods  can  show  only 
actual  movements  in  the  market,  and  cannot  al- 
low the  prospects  of  future  development  to  be  de- 
termined, simply  because  they  cannot  take  into 
account  the  personal  equations.  Only  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  character  and  the  temperament, 
the  intelligence  and  the  habits,  the  energy  and 
the  weakness,  of  the  head  of  a  firm  can  tell  us 
whether  the  company,  even  with  satisfactory 
resources,  may  go  down,  or  whether,  even  though 
embarrassed,  it  may  hold  out.  The  psychological 
pioneer,  therefore,  aims  not  only  toward  an  ex- 
change of  ledger  accounts,  but  toward  a  real  psy- 
chological diagnosis  and  prognosis.  If  a  member 
of  a  firm  is  personally  known  to  some  scores  of 
business  men  who  have  had  commercial  dealings 
with  him,  and  each  one  of  them,  without  disclos- 
ing his  identity  to  any  one  but  the  central  bureau, 
sends  to  it  a  statement  of  personal  impressions,  a 
composite  picture  of  the  mental  physiognomy 
can  be  worked  out.  Of  course  all  this  has  been 
often  done  in  the  terms  of  popular  psychology 

300 


BUYING  AND  SELLING 

and  in  a  haphazard,  amateurish  way.  The  new 
plan  is  to  arrange  the  questions  systematically 
under  the  point  of  view  of  scientific  descriptive 
psychology.  Regular  psychograms,  in  which  the 
probability  of  a  particular  kind  of  behavior  is  to 
be  determined  in  an  exact  percentage  calculation, 
are  to  replace  the  traditional  vagueness,  as  soon 
as  a  sufficient  number  of  reliable  answers  have 
been  tabulated. 

Commercial  life  as  a  whole  finds  its  contact  with 
psychology,  of  course,  not  only  in  the  problem  of 
how  to  secure  the  best  mental  effect.  Those  other 
questions  which  we  have  discussed  essentially 
with  reference  to  factory  life  and  industrial  con- 
cerns, namely,  how  the  best  man  and  the  best 
work  are  to  be  secured,  recur  in  the  circle  of  com- 
mercial endeavors.  It  seems,  indeed,  most  desir- 
able to  devise  psychological  tests  by  which  the 
ability  to  be  a  successful  salesman  or  saleswoman 
may  be  determined  at  an  early  stage.  The  la- 
mentable shifting  of  the  employees  in  all  com- 
mercial spheres,  with  its  injurious  social  conse- 
quences, would  then  be  unnecessary,  and  both 
employers  and  employees  would  profit.  More- 
over, like  the  selection  of  the  men,  the  means  of 
securing  the  most  satisfactory  work  from  them, 
has  also  so  far  been  left  entirely  to  common  sense. 
Commercial  work   stands   under  an  abundance 

301 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

of  varying  conditions,  and  each  may  have  in- 
fluences the  isolated  effects  of  which  are  not 
known,  because  they  have  not  been  studied  in  that 
systematic  form  which  only  the  experiment  can 
establish.  The  popular  literature  on  this  whole 
group  of  subjects  is  extensive,  and  in  its  expan- 
sion corresponds  to  the  widespread  demand  for 
real  information  and  advice  to  the  salesman. 
But  hardly  any  part  of  the  literature  in  the  bor- 
derland regions  of  economics  is  so  disappointing 
in  its  vagueness,  emptiness,  and  helplessness. 
Experimental  psychology  has  nothing  with  which 
to  replace  it  to-day,  but  it  can  at  least  show  the 
direction  from  which  decisive  help  may  be  ex- 
pected in  future. 


XXIV 

THE   FUTURE   DEVELOPMENT   OF   ECONOMIC 
PSYCHOLOGY 

HERE  we  may  stop.  From  those  element- 
ary questions  concerning  the  mental  ef- 
fects, the  path  would  quickly  lead  to  questions 
of  gravest  importance.  What  is  the  mental  ef- 
fect which  the  economic  labor  produces  in  the 
laborer  himself?  How  do  economic  movements 
influence  the  mind  of  the  community?  How  far 
do  non-economic  factors  produce  effects  on  the 
psychical  mechanism  of  the  economic  agents? 
But  it  would  be  idle  to  claim  to-day  for  exact 
psychology,  with  its  methods  of  causal  thought, 
regions  in  which  so  far  popular  psychology,  with 
its  methods  of  purposive  thought,  is  still  sovereign. 
Our  aim  certainly  was  not  to  review  the  totality 
of  possible  problems  related  to  economic  eflSciency, 
but  merely  to  demonstrate  the  principles  and  the 
methods  of  experimental  economic  psychology 
by  a  few  characteristic  illustrations.  As  all  the 
examples  which  we  selected  were  chosen  only  in 
order  to  make  clear  the  characteristic  point  of 
view  of  psychotechnics,  it  is  unimportant  whether 
the  particular  results  will  stand  the  test  of  further 

303 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

experimental  investigations,  or  will  have  to  be 
modified  by  new  researches.  What  is  needed  to- 
day is  not  to  distribute  the  results  so  far  reached 
as  if  they  were  parts  of  a  definite  knowledge,  but 
only  to  emphasize  that  the  little  which  has  been 
accomplished  should  encourage  continuous  effort. 
To  stimulate  such  further  work  is  the  only  pur- 
pose of  this  sketch. 

This  further  work  will  have  to  be  a  work  of  co- 
operation. The  nature  of  this  problem  demands 
a  relatively  large  number  of  persons  for  the  ex- 
perimental treatment.  With  most  experimental 
researches  in  our  psychological  laboratories,  the 
number  of  the  subjects  experimented  on  is  not 
so  important  as  the  number  of  experiments  made 
with  a  few  well-trained  participants.  But  with 
the  questions  of  applied  psychology  the  number  of 
persons  plays  a  much  more  significant  role,  as  the 
individual  differences  become  of  greatest  import- 
ance. The  same  problems  ought  therefore  to  be 
studied  in  various  places,  so  that  the  results 
may  be  exchanged  and  compared.  Moreover,  these 
psychological  economic  investigations  naturally 
lead  beyond  the  possibilities  of  the  university 
laboratories.  To  a  certain  degree  this  was  true 
of  other  parts  of  applied  psychology  as  well.  Edu- 
cational and  medical  experimental  psychology 
could  not  reach  their  fullest  productivity  until 

304 


FUTURE  OF  ECONOMIC  PSYCHOLOGY 

the  experiment  was  systematically  carried  into 
the  schoolroom  and  the  psychiatric  clinic.  But 
the  classroom  and  the  hospital  are  relatively  ac- 
cessible places  for  the  scientific  worker,  as  both 
are  anyhow  conducted  under  a  scientific  point  of 
view.  The  teacher  and  the  physician  can  easily 
learn  to  perform  valuable  experiments  with 
school  children  or  with  patients.  This  favorable 
condition  is  lacking  in  the  workshop  and  the  fac- 
tory, in  the  banks  and  the  markets.  The  acade- 
mic psychologist  will  be  able  to  undertake  work 
there  only  with  a  very  disturbing  expenditure  of 
time  and  only  under  exceptional  conditions.  If 
such  experiments,  for  instance,  with  laborers  in 
a  factory  or  employees  of  a  railway  are  to  ad- 
vance beyond  the  faint  first  efforts  of  to-day  and 
are  really  to  become  serviceable  to  the  cultural 
progress  of  our  time  with  effective  completeness, 
they  ought  not  to  remain  an  accidental  appendix 
to  the  theoretical  laboratories.  Either  the  uni- 
versities must  create  special  laboratories  for 
applied  psychology  or  independent  research  in- 
stitutes must  be  founded  which  attack  the  new 
concrete  problems  under  the  point  of  view  of 
national  political  economy.  Experimental  work- 
shops could  be  created  which  are  really  adjusted 
to  the  special  practical  needs  and  to  which  a 
sufficiently  large  number  of  persons  could   be 

305 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

drawn  for  the  systematic  researches.  The  ideal 
solution  for  the  United  States  would  be  a  gov- 
ernmental bureau  for  applied  psychology,  with 
special  reference  to  the  psychology  of  commerce 
and  industry,  similar  to  the  model  agricultural 
stations  all  over  the  land  under  the  Department 
of  Agriculture. 

Only  when  such  a  broad  foundation  has  been 
secured  will  the  time  be  ripe  to  carry  the  method 
systematically  into  the  daily  work.  The  aim 
will  never  be  for  real  experimental  researches  to 
be  performed  by  the  foreman  in  the  workshop  or 
by  the  superintendent  in  the  factory.  But  slowly 
a  certain  acknowledged  system  of  rules  and  pre- 
scriptions may  be  worked  out  which  may  be 
used  as  patterns,  and  which  will  not  presuppose 
any  scientific  knowledge,  any  more  than  an  under- 
standing of  the  principles  of  electricity  is  neces- 
sary for  one  who  uses  the  telephone.  But  besides 
the  rigid  rules  which  any  one  may  apply,  par- 
ticular prescriptions  will  be  needed  fitting  the 
special  situation.  This  leads  to  the  demand  for 
the  large  establishments  to  appoint  profession- 
ally trained  psychologists  who  will  devote  their 
services  to  the  psychological  problems  of  the 
special  industrial  plant.  There  are  many  fac- 
tories that  have  scores  of  scientifically  trained 
chemists  or  physicists  at  work,  but  who  would 

306 


FUTURE  OF  ECONOMIC  PSYCHOLOGY 

consider  it  an  unproductive  luxury  to  appoint 
a  scientifically  schooled  experimental  psychologist 
to  their  staff.  And  yet  his  observations  and  re- 
searches might  become  economically  the  most 
important  factor.  Similar  expectations  might  be 
justified  for  the  large  department  stores  and  es- 
pecially for  the  big  transportation  companies.  In 
smaller  dimensions  the  same  real  needs  exist  in 
the  ordinary  workshop  and  store.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  professional  consulting  psychologist 
would  satisfy  these  needs  most  directly,  and  if 
such  a  new  group  of  engineers  were  to  enter  into 
industrial  life,  very  soon  a  further  specialization 
might  be  expected.  Some  of  these  psychological 
engineers  would  devote  themselves  to  the  pro- 
blems of  vocational  selection  and  appointment; 
others  would  specialize  on  questions  of  advertise- 
ment and  display  and  propaganda;  a  third  group 
on  problems  of  fatigue,  eflBciency,  and  recrea- 
tion; a  fourth  on  the  psychological  demands  for 
the  arrangement  of  the  machines;  and  every  day 
would  give  rise  to  new  divisions.  Such  a  well- 
schooled  specialist,  if  he  spent  a  few  hours  in  a 
workshop  or  a  few  days  in  a  factory,  could  submit 
propositions  which  might  refer  exclusively  to  the 
psychological  factors  and  yet  which  might  be 
more  important  for  the  earning  and  the  profit  of 
the  establishment  than  the  mere  buying  of  new 

307 


THE  BEST  POSSIBLE  EFFECT 

machines  or  the  mere  increase  in  the  number  of 
laborers. 

No  one  can  deny  that  such  a  transition  must 
be  burdened  with  diflBcult  compHcations  and  even 
with  dangers;  and  still  less  will  any  one  doubt  that 
it  may  be  caricatured.  One  who  demands  that 
a  chaujffeur  or  a  motorman  of  an  electric  railway 
be  examined  as  to  his  psychical  abilities  by  sys- 
tematic psychological  methods,  so  that  accidents 
may  be  avoided,  does  not  necessarily  demand  that 
a  congressman  or  a  cabinet  minister  or  a  candi- 
date for  marriage  be  tested  too  by  psychological 
laboratory  experiments,  as  the  witty  ones  have 
proposed.  And  one  who  believes  that  the  work 
in  the  factory  ought  to  be  studied  with  reference 
to  the  smallest  possible  expenditure  of  psychical 
impulses  is  not  convinced  that  the  same  experi- 
mental methods  will  be  necessary  for  the  func- 
tions of  eating  and  drinking  and  love-making,  as 
has  been  suggested. 

And  if  it  is  true  that  difficulties  and  discomforts 
are  to  be  feared  during  the  transition  period,  they 
should  be  more  than  outweighed  by  the  splendid 
betterments  to  be  hoped  for.  We  must  not  forget 
that  the  increase  of  industrial  efficiency  by  future 
psychological  adaptation  and  by  improvement 
of  the  psychophysical  conditions  is  not  only  in 
the  interest  of  the  employers,  but  still  more  of  the 

308 


FUTURE  OF  ECONOMIC  PSYCHOLOGY 

employees;  their  working  time  can  be  reduced, 
their  wages  increased,  their  level  of  life  raised. 
And  above  all,  still  more  important  than  the 
naked  commercial  profit  on  both  sides,  is  the  cul- 
tural gain  which  will  come  to  the  total  economic 
life  of  the  nation,  as  soon  as  every  one  can  be 
brought  to  the  place  where  his  best  energies  may 
be  unfolded  and  his  greatest  personal  satisfac- 
tion secured.  The  economic  experimental  psy- 
chology offers  no  more  inspiring  idea  than  this 
adjustment  of  work  and  psyche  by  which  mental 
dissatisfaction  in  the  work,  mental  depression 
and  discouragement,  may  be  replaced  in  our 
social  community  by  overflowing  joy  and  perfect 
inner  harmony. 


THE    END 


NOTES 


NOTES 

*  (p.  10).  The  fullest  account  of  the  modern  studies  on  in- 
dividual differences  is  to  be  found  in:  WilHam  Stern:  Die 
differentielle  Psychologic  in  ihren  methodischen  Grundlagen. 
(Leipzig,  1911.) 

*  (p.  15).  The  practical  applications  of  psychology  in  edu- 
cation, law,  and  medicine,  I  have  discussed  in  detail  in  the 
books:  Munsterberg:  Psychology  and  the  Teacher.  (New 
York,  1910.)  Munsterberg:  On  the  Witness  Stand.  (New 
York,  1908.)  (English  edition  under  the  title:  Psychology 
and  Crime.)  Munsterberg:  Psychotherapy.  (New  York, 
1909.) 

'  (p.  41).  Frank  Parsons:  Choosing  a  Vocation.  (Boston, 
1909.) 

*  (p.  42).  M.  Bloomfield:  The  Vocational  Guidance  of 
Youth.   (Boston,  1911.) 

^  (p.  47).  Vocations  for  Boys.  (Issued  by  the  Vocation 
Bureau  of  Boston.  1912.)  Vocations  for  Boston  Girls.  (Issued 
by  the  Girls'  Trade  Education  League.  1911.)  Bulletins  of 
Vocation  Series.  Issued  by  the  Women's  Educational  and 
Industrial  Union.    1911.) 

«  (p.  49).  F.W.Taylor:  The  Principles  of  Scientific  Man- 
agement. (New  York,  1911.)  H.  L.  Gantt:  Work,  Wages, 
and  Profits.  (New  York,  1912.)  And  the  books  of  Emerson, 
Gilbreth,  Goldmark,  etc.,  to  be  mentioned  later. 

^  (p.  52).  H.  Emerson:  Efficiency  as  a  Basis  for  Operation 
and  Wages.   (New  York,  1912,  p.  107.) 

^  (p.  52).  H.  Emerson:  The  Twelve  Principles  of  Effi- 
ciency.   (New  York,  1912,  p.  176.) 

9  (p.  53).  H.  Emerson:  The  Twelve  Principles,  p.  156. 

"  (p.  53).   H.  Emerson:  The  Twelve  Principles,  p.  177. 

"  (p.  54) .  F.  W.  Taylor :  The  Principles  of  Scientific  Man- 
agement, pp.  86-97. 

^^  (p.  86).  The  experiments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Bridges. 

313 


NOTES 

"  (p.  98).  Investigation  of  Telephone  Companies:  Bu- 
reau of  Labor.  (Washington,  Government  Printing  Office, 
1910.) 

^■*  (p.  104).  Ries:  Beitrage  zur  Methodik  der  IntelHgenz- 
priifung.    (Zeitschrift  fiir  Psychologic,  1910,  vol.  56.) 

^^  (p.  112).  For  a  survey  of  a  large  number  of  such  tests 
and  bibliography,  compare:  G.  M.  Whipple:  Manual  of 
Mental  and  Physical  Tests.    (Baltimore,  1911.) 

i«  (p.  126).  F.  L.  Wells:  The  Relation  of  Practice  to  In- 
dividual Differences.  (American  Journal  of  Psychologj% 
1912,  vol.  23,  pp.  75-88.) 

^^  (p.  127).  M.  Bernays:  Auslese  und  Anpassung  der 
Arbeiterschaft  der  geschlossenen  Grossindustrie,  dargestellt 
an  den  Verhaltnissen  der  Gladbacher  Spinnerei  und  Weberei. 
(Leipzig,  1910,  p.  337.) 

18  (p.  135).  H.  C.  McComas:  Some  Types  of  Attention. 
(Psychological  Review  Monographs,  vol.  13,  3,  1911.) 

1^  (p.  149).  Max  Weber:  Zur  Psychophysik  der  industri- 
ellen  Arbeit.  (Archiv  fiir  Sozialwissenschaft  und  Sozialpo- 
litik,  1908  and  1909,  vols.  27  and  28.) 

2°  (p.  150).  Bryan  and  Harter :  Studies  in  the  Telegraphic 
Language.    (Psychological  Review,  vol.  4.) 

21  (p.  151).  W.  F.  Book:  The  Psychology  of  Skill.  (Uni- 
versity of  Montana,  Publications  in  Psychology,  1910.) 

2-  (p.  156).  H.  Miinsterberg :  Beitrage  zur  experimentellen 
Psychologic.    (Book  iv,  1892.) 

2^  (p.  156).  A.  J.  Culler:  Interference  and  Adaptability. 
(Archives  of  Psychology,  1912.) 

2^  (p.  157).  The  experiments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Mr.  L.  W.  Kline. 

2^  (p.  160).  Adolf  Gerson:  Die  physiologischen  Grund- 
lagen  der  Arbeitsteilung.  (Zeitschrift  fiir  Sozialwissenschaft, 
1907.) 

26  (p.  163).  Karl  Bucher:  Arbeit  und  Rhythmus.  (Fourth 
Edition,  Leipzig,  1909,  p.  438.) 

2^  (p.  104).  Frank  G.  Gilbreth:  Motion  Study.  (New 
York,  1911.) 

28  (p.  166).  Taylor:  The  Principles  of  Scientific  Manage- 
ment.  (New  York,  1911,  p.  71.) 

314 


NOTES 

^  (p.  169).  The  experiments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Mr,  E.  R.  Riesen. 

^°  (p.  170).  R.  Herbertz:  Zur  Psychologic  desMaschinen- 
schreibens.  (Zeitschrift  fur  angcwandte  Psychologic,  1908, 
vol.  2,  p.  551.) 

"  (p.  175).  C.  L.  Vaughan:  The  Moter  Power  of  Com- 
plexity. (Harvard  Psychological  Studies,  vol.  2, 190G,  p.  527.) 

22  (p.  177).  G.  M.  Stratton:  Some  Experiments  in  the 
Perception  of  the  Movement,  Color,  and  Direction  of  Lights. 
(Psychological  Review  Monographs,  vol.  10,  1908.) 

22  (p.  178) .  The  experiments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Miss  L.  M.  Seeley. 

2^  (p.  187).  H.  MUnsterberg:  Beitnige  zur  experimen- 
tellen  Psychologic.   (Book  iv,  1892.) 

2^  (p.  187).  R.  S.  Woodworth:  Accuracy  of  Voluntary 
Movement.  (Psychological  Review  Monographs,  vol.  3, 
1899.) 

'^  (p.  188).  B.  A.  Lenfest:  The  Accuracy  of  Linear  Move- 
ment.   (Harvard  Psychological  Studies,  vol.  2,  1906.) 

2^  (p.  202).  Ranschburg:  Ueber  die  Bedeutung  der  Ahn- 
lichkeit  beim  Erlemen,  Behalten  und  bei  der  Reproduktion. 
(Journal  flir  Psychologic  und  Neurologic,  vol.  5.)  Ransch- 
burg: Zeitschrift  flir  Psychologic  und  Physiologic  der  Sinne- 
sorgane.    (Vol.  30,  1902.) 

'^  (p.  202).  H.  Kleinknecht:  The  Interference  of  Optical 
Stimuli.     (Harvard  Psychological  Studies,  vol.  2,  1906.) 

2'  (p.  205).  The  exjjeriments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Miss  O.  E.  Martin. 

^0  (p.  210).  Henry  P.  Kendall:  Unsystematized,  Systema- 
tized, and  Scientific  Management.  (In  Addresses  and  Dis- 
cussions at  the  Conference  on  Scientific  Management  held 
at  Dartmouth  College,  1912.) 

"  (p.  213).  Ernst  Abbe:  Gesammelte  Abhandlungen. 
(Jena,  1908,  vol.  3,  p.  20G.) 

*^  (p.  214).  A  full  survey  of  the  problem  and  its  literature 
is  containc*!  in:  Josephine  Goldmark:  Fatigue  and  Efficiency. 
(New  York,  1912.) 

*2  (p.  217).  F.  W.  Taylor:  The  Principles  of  Scientific 
Management.     (New  York,  1911,  p.  58.) 

315 


NOTES 

**  (p.  223).  W.  Hellpach :  Die  geopsychischen  Erschein- 
ungen.  Wetter,  Klima  und  Landschaft  uud  ihr  Einfluss  auf 
das  Seelenleben.    (Leipzig,  1911,  p.  176-212.) 

*^  (p.  225).  Aschaffenburg:  Praktische  Arbeit  unterAlko- 
holwirkung.  (Psychologische  Arbeiten  —  Kraepelin,  vol.  1, 
1906.) 

^®  (p.  228).  Hildebrand:  Die  Beeinflussung  der  Willens- 
kraft  dureh  den  Alkobol.     (Konigsberg,  1910.) 

*''  (p.  232).  For  the  scientific  facts  concerning  alcohol  and 
bibliography  compare:  Hugo  Hoppe:  Die  Tatsachen  iiber 
den  Alkohol.     (Munich,  1912.) 

48  (p.  232).  H.L.HoUingworth:  The  Influence  of  Caffein 
on  Mental  and  Motor  EflBciency.   (New  York,  1912.) 

4^  (p.  238).  Levenstein:  Die  Arbeiterfrage.  (Munich, 
1912.) 

6"  (p.  263).  W.  D.  Scott:  The  Psychology  of  Advertismg. 
(Boston,  1908,  p.  166.) 

^^  (p.  269).  D.  Starch:  Psychology  of  Preferred  Positions. 
(Judicious  Advertising,  New  York,  November,  1909.) 

62  (p.  275).  C.  T.  Burnett:  The  Estimation  of  Number. 
(Harvard  Psychological  Studies,  vol.  2,  p.  349.) 

"  (p.  285).  E.  S.Rogers:  The  Unwary  Purchaser:  A  Study 
in  the  Psychology  of  Trade  Mark  Infringement.  (Michigan 
Law  Review,  vol.  8,  1910.) 

64  (p.  292).  The  experiments  are  being  conducted  and  will 
be  published  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Feingold. 

"  (p.  299).  W.  D.  Scott:  Influencing  Men  in  Business. 
(New  York,  1911.) 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abstinence,  230. 

Accidents,  63,  66,  76.  213,  224. 

Adjustment,  35,  158. 

Advertisement,  255. 

Alcohol,  225,  227. 

Analysis,  47,  123. 

Apperception,  206. 

Applied    psychology,  5,   10,    15, 

304. 
Appointment,  116. 
Apprentice,  145. 
Arguments,  295. 
Art,  273. 

Artificial  track,  71. 
Association,  105,  156. 
Attention,  21,  66,  101,  106,  135, 

197,  206,  284. 
Attitude,  68,  75. 

Beauty,  272,  278. 
Beginner,  182. 
Buying,  294. 

CafFein,  232. 
Capitalism,  143. 
Card  test,  87. 
Choice  of  vocation,  32,  34. 
Color  blindness,  30,  57. 
Complication,  84. 
Concentration,  136. 
Confession,  18. 
Consciousness,  247. 
Conservation,  38. 
Consulting  p.sychologist,  307. 
Conversation,  208. 
Counting,  175. 
Correlation,  134. 
Court,  292. 


Credit  bureau,  299. 
Criminal,  14. 
Customer,  298. 

Decision,  85,  94. 
Discrimination,  74. 
Display,  272. 

Dispositions,  27,  125,  170. 
Distraction,  206. 
Distribution,  276. 
Disturbances,  210. 
Division  of  labor,  28,  51,  191, 
Dynamogenic,  173. 

Economics,  19,  243,  250. 
Educational  psychology,  11. 
Efficiency,  50,  144,  158,  180,  190, 

223,  225. 
Effort,  101. 

Electric  railway,  63,  69,  180, 
Energy,  175. 
Entertainment,  238. 
Ergograph,  149. 
Exactitude,  186. 
Examinations,  29. 
Excitability,  226. 
Ex j)eri  mental  psychology,  4,  57, 

251. 
Expert,  292. 

Factory,  122,  191,  212,  233,  279, 

306. 
Failure,  35. 
Fatigue,  63,  180,   192,  206,  211, 

218. 
Feeling,  147,  157,  253. 
Fitness.  53,  00,  116. 
Foresight,  64. 


319 


INDEX 


Grading,  103,  107. 
Groups,  129. 

Habits,  150,  182. 
Handwriting,  134. 
History.  248. 
Household,  177. 

Illusions,  377. 

Imagination,  66. 

Imitation,  236,  282. 

Inclination,  126. 

Individual  differences,  8,  10,  28, 

32,  125,  129,  199,  222. 
Industrial  experiments,  67. 
Industry,  59,  160,  191. 
Inhibition,  84,  162,  176,  203. 
Injuries,  213. 
Intelligence,  102. 
Interest,  194. 
Interference,  154. 
Interruption,  183. 
Intuition,  53. 

Jurisdiction,  283. 

Labels,  279,  282. 
Labor  legislation,  63. 
Learning,  141,  147. 
Legal  psychology,  14,  282. 
Localization  of  sound,  95. 
Locomotives,  176. 
Logic,  248. 

Machine,  160,  162. 
Mason,  164. 
Meaning,  247. 
Medical  psychology,  12. 
Memory,  101,  147,  171,  226.  227, 

259. 
Methods,  148. 
Mills,  117. 

Miniature  models,  67. 
Monotony,  190.  198. 
Motormen,  63,  74. 


Movement,  145,   161,   169,   180, 

185. 
Muscles,  160. 

Nationality,  130. 
Nervous  disease,  13. 
Newspaper.  259. 
Noise,  173. 
Number,  275. 
Numerical  results,  77. 

Optics,  277. 
Organization,  154. 

Packing,  282. 

Pauses,  214. 

Pedagogy,  11,  146. 

Personality,  112. 

Position,  269. 

Postal  cards,  286. 

Prejudices,  133. 

Psychiatry.  12. 

Psychological  laboratories,  5,  45, 

257,  304. 
Psychophysical  law,  252. 
Psychotechnics,  17. 

Qualities,  27. 
Questionaires,  4S. 

Race,  130. 

Rapidity,  187. 

Reaction-time,  54,  65. 

Recognition,  263. 

Repetition,  148,  162,  192,  262. 

Rest,  217. 

Rhythm,  162,  187. 

Salesman,  294. 

Satisfaction.  243. 

Saving,  165,  184. 

School.  128.  146,  219. 

Scientific  management,  49,  159, 

164,  168.  297. 
Selection,  51. 


320 


INDEX 


Self-knowledge,  30.  44. 
Self-observation,  45. 
Selling,  294. 
Sewing,  178. 
Sex,  132. 
Shifting,  118. 
Ship  models,  67. 
Ship  service,  83. 
Shoveling,  166. 
Signals,  176. 
Similarity,  283,  286. 
Size.  261. 
Sleep,  224. 

Social  influences,  221. 
Speed,  169,  233. 
Subdivision,  22. 
Suggestion.  274,  295. 

Task,  237. 

Technical  sciences,  17. 
Technique,  158,  161. 
Telegraphy,  150. 
Telephone  Service,  97. 
Temperature,  223. 


Tests,  76,  80,  105,  111. 
Trade  Unions,  50. 
Training,  125,  141,  150. 
Type-setting,  124. 
Typewriting,  151,  170. 

Uncertainty,  284. 
Unfitness,  31. 
Uniformity,  193.  199. 

Values,  245. 
Visibility,  172. 
Vividness,  261. 
Vocation,  32,  40,  58. 
Vocational  counselor,  41. 
Vocational  guidance,  37,  48. 

Wages.  127,  165.  195,  235. 
Waste,  38,  145,  160. 
Will-impulse,  149,  227. 
Witness,  14. 
Women,  132,  161. 
Working-day.  212,  296. 


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